


A Goddess Serving Angel and a Time Traveling Sword Wielder Caught in the Struggle

by HaloRocks1214



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening, Super Smash Brothers, 光神話 | Kid Icarus (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, End of the World, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fights, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self Confidence Issues, Spoilers, Temporary Character Death, Trauma, World of Light (Super Smash Brothers)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2019-09-28 07:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17178509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloRocks1214/pseuds/HaloRocks1214
Summary: Two completely different people from two completely different situations brought together to save their families from the actual end of the world as they know it.However, as hopeless as it sounds, in their quest to prevent the total annihilation of all things, they'll find out that even the most polar opposite people can find something that they have in common.(That thing would be reliving respective past-trauma)





	1. The Awakening of an Angel

**Author's Note:**

> _EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: howdy! i just thought id mention that the reason theres both a platonic and romantic tag is that i dont care how you read this fic! i pictured them as good friends but if youre into this ship then feel free to see deeper meaning behind their interactions! thats all i wanted to say! hope you enjoy the fic :)_
> 
> welcome to the plot bunny thats been in my head for the past few days!!! honestly, the only reason these two were put together was because i needed an excuse to not write two separate fics lmao. im planning to have this 4 chaps at the least and 5-7 at the most
> 
> ps. forgive me if i dont do lucina justice when she comes because i havent played a single FE game (in fact i just recently got into awakening for certain reasons lol). i hope you enjoy nonetheless!

_C’ mon, Pitty, try again._

“Shut up.”

_What is this tomfoolery? I thought your skills were better than this, especially with that ‘goddess’ guiding you._

“Shut, _up._ ”

_If this pathetic power you wield is indeed from the Gods, maybe they aren’t so great after all._

“I said _shut up!_ ”

Trying to go in again and land another hit, Hades charged up before Pit could and practically knocked Pit’s teeth out. Flying back, Pit bounced off the bottom of the platform that was above him and flung into the dark abyss below.

In the few seconds Pit had to think while flying, he made one final thought.

‘I’m sorry, Lady Palutena, Pittoo, even Viridi. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough again.’

His immediate next thought was pain, and not in the way you would think. 

Instead of flying into literal Hell, Pit slammed into the hard, concrete ground. Sitting up, he looked around to see a worn down temple in the sky and a blue, bipedal dog/fox looking creature just as confused as he was staring at him. The creature shook off its confusion, looked back at Pit, and reached it's paw out.

Wait a minute! That’s Lucario! How could Pit forget? Lucario was one of the first Pit greeted when he came back to the Game of Smash! But what was it doing here? What were _they_ doing here?

Oh, right, it's holding out his paw. Shaking off the confusion just like his friend did, Pit took Lucario’s paw and stood up rather shakily. Lucario had to give a little bit of support to make sure the angel didn’t fall over again. Pit hopes the pokemon doesn’t hold it against him, after all, he did just fight Hade-

Gasping, Pit quickly pulled out his weapon, ready to attack the next person who’s going to try something sneaky, even shocking Lucario in the process. The fighting pokemon put it’s arms out in front in a ‘hey calm down’ motion, all the while watching Pit closely.

It was if the boy were a frightened animal, protecting himself as if he were on the verge of death.

With his swords still out, Pit looked Lucario in it's eyes, “Where’s Hades?”

Lucario took a second to process the question, before tilting it's head in confusion.

Pit saw and further explained, “Hades? God of the Undead? I was just fighting him. You’ve had to have seen him since your here, right?” 

Lucario was still confused but seemed to have recognized Pit’s problem. With it's arms still out, the pokemon slowly walked closer to Pit. The speed was slow enough to not startle the kid but fast enough to reach him before he could back away.

Now close enough, Lucario quickly grabbed Pit’s arm and sent it's aura through his body. Pit gasped in shock and was quickly transported to another part of the temple. The only difference was that he was now transparent, no longer the opaque, solid angel he was just a mere second ago. 

Oh, Lucario is showing him what happened. Alright...

_Lucario had made it to the end of the temple. It had trouble getting in, as one of their teammates had tried stopping it in their mind control fury. The man was one of the first-timers. Lucario couldn’t help but feel sad at the thought of his first experience being this._

_His name was Simon Belmont, a famous vampire hunter. After fighting the man, Lucario explained in it's non-verbal speech what was happening. Sending the hunter away (the man needed rest after all), Lucario traversed through the rest of the place._

_Getting to the end, it saw it’s goal: a giant, floating gem. Fox had informed the pokemon that it needed to destroy the gem so they could continue. It was going to do exactly that, but right as it touched the objective it was thrown back. At first, the pokemon was annoyed: there was something protecting the gem, of course, what that could be, it didn’t know._

_But then an arrow landed in the spot Lucario was just standing in a little bit ago. Looking at the projectile, Lucario saw two feet land in front of it. Along with that, the pokemon heard two wings flutter. Moving it’s own eyes, it looked up into two more, two of which belonged to the angel Pit._

_Standing up, Lucario got into it’s fighting stance. A portal of light split open behind it's opponent. Unlike it's first fight in this place, Lucario was ready to be transported to where ever. After all, this seems to be a reoccurring theme for this end of the world scenario._

_Besides, the kid was nice. One of the few fighters that talked to it normally and not in that condescending animal voice (even the trainer does it to the pokemon and drives it nuts). Seeing the light get closer, Lucario could only hope it could end this quickly for Pit._

_Arceus knows what he is experiencing._

Gasping again, Pit jerked out of Lucario’s hold.

Panting in shock, Pit gulped, “So… Hades isn’t here?”

Lucario nodded.

“I thought he was. I remember so vividly, he was trying to steal the-” Pit turned around to point at said object, but all he ended up doing was looking at that gem Lucario talked about. Looking at it, Pit thought and was able to put two and two together.

He let his arm drop from where it was pointing. He looked to the floor forlornly, “... I attacked you, didn’t I?”

Lucario blinked in surprise. Before it could nod or do anything else, Pit had his question answered, which in turn had him fall to his knees and put his hands around his ears. He clenched his eyes shut while Lucario ran up to him in an attempt to comfort him, but the damage was done.

Pit was trying to prevent the tears from flowing.

‘Oh god, it’s happening again. I’m gonna be taken over and I’m just going to hurt everyone- but I’m not now, maybe I can take this opportunity to get away before that happens- but wait, what if I’m under control _now?_ Oh god, this could just be an illusion, I could be killing right now and _I wouldn’t know-_ ’

Pit stopped his train of thought when he was shaken pretty hard, so hard to the point his hands flew off the sides of his head. He looked up with his tear-stained eyes and cheeks to peer into Lucario’s eyes. Just like everything else, the pokemon was able to convey so much without words.

Its emotions conveyed pure concern the angel. That realization brought Pit out from his panic once again.

Standing up quickly, Pit rubbed his eyes while Lucario stood back, still watching. The angel couldn’t cry _now,_ not while all these people were in danger, not while his _friends_ were. Even if the idea of a higher being taking him over freaked him out, even if this same higher being pitted his friends against him, Lady against him-

One more time, Lucario’s gentle grab brought him out of his terror. He looked down at the pokemon for a second, emotion unrecognizable, before smiling in reassurance. That’s his job, right, protect the people?

Lucario gave a look to Pit. Part of it knows Pit is putting up a facade, but the other says that there’s no time to point it out. Letting go, Lucario stood, staring a Pit. The angel was confused before the pokemon pointed behind him.

Pit looked around to look at the gem again. Now he was just more confused.

Lucario saw he wasn’t getting the message, so the fox/dog hybrid charged up an aura sphere and tossed it at the shiny objective. The attack hit the gem, but stayed there, then bounced back with more force at the fighters. Pit screamed and ducked, but Lucario grabbed his aura sphere and took it back into it's body.

Pit stood up in awe. It was a few seconds before Lucario jerked his head at the gem for Pit to look at.

Pit finally got the message, “Ohhh, you want me to break it?”

Lucario grinned and nodded.

Pit let out another ‘oh’ before turning around. Pulling out his bow, Pit charged up an arrow while examining the gem more closely. Now that he thinks about it, it looks a lot like something Lady Palutena would keep…

Oh, only Pit can break it, now he gets it. Letting the arrow fly, it punctured the outer layer of the shiny, blue rock. The ground shook for a moment, nearly causing both fighters to fall over, before shattering into pieces and causing an extremely bright, white light.

The light would slowly fade away, leaving the two fighters to look at the empty space where it once was. Eventually, the ground shook again, this time being able to actually trip the fighters, both landing on their butts with an ‘oof’.

The two looked at each other before nodding and standing up. Both ran back to the entrance and out of the godforsaken fake temple. Getting outside, Pit looked around. His eyes eventually looked out to a faraway part of the world.

Not that there was much to see, it was all a bunch of dusty clouds! Jeez, whatever this apocalypse causer made of feathers and a ball of light wanted from this world it probably wasn’t much to begin with. Oh well, might as well ask about it.

“Hey, Lucario, why is the world- er, like that?” Pit pointed to said problem.

Lucario looked, then pondered the question, before miming like he was pushing on a wa-

“Ohhhh, you mean there was a wall in the way? So- let me guess- the entire world was like that, but this half isn’t because you could reach it and fix it?”

Lucario nodded. 

“Was that gem the power source for the wall?”

Lucario nodded once again. 

Pit nodded in return, this time ending the verbal conversation. Of course, he still had many more questions, but he could ask them later. He had a world to save, no time to ask, just time to do.

Lucario turned to walk down a dramatic pathway, no doubt the same one it walked up to find the temple they were in. Pit watched for a moment before doing the same. He wonders who is currently freed and who he’ll have to help free himself.

But before all that, he makes a promise. One to himself, and to everyone else.

‘Don’t worry, guys, I’ll be sure to save you. I've done it before and I'll do it again, no matter what it takes.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do note that in the game, anyone can break the gem. also note that many things in this story will be written a certain way to make it more interesting (im basically saying dont use this as a guide for the game, though, im hoping you knew that already lmao)
> 
> also do let me know if there are any obvious spelling errors, i dont have anyone who can grammar/spell check for me
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	2. The Rising of a Swords(wo)man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pit's not having that good of a time. With half the fighters found and none of them being his friends (or even having some kind of a hint), he's not exactly feeling hopeful about his situation.
> 
> Maybe he can take his mind off of it by doing other things! Yeah, that could work.
> 
> (Maybe the person he rescues can be just as much of a help to him as he is to her)

Pit was… doing okay?

Not good, but at the very least he wasn’t doing awful, he knew that much. The story to this point is extremely long, and the worst part was that _they were only halfway done._

The main problem they have right now is Dark Galeem- er, ‘Dharkon’ as he has been named, apparently. Turns out, after busting their butts off fighting Galeem (which Pit felt like sleeping for a decade afterward), turns out, the God of Light had some kind of pseudo-brother waiting for them to do that just so he could take over instead!

Now the rest of the people that were invited are under _Dharkon’s_ control, which, conveniently, _is half the frickin cast._ Yeah, they’ve only found 41 people so far, which, none of them are Pit’s family, so he has _that_ going for him...

Now they were here in the Dark World, planning what to do about this new plot twist, finding places to set up camp, and Pit was left to stew in his own anxiety riddled thoughts. Maybe he could get his mind off by telling himself jokes.

‘Hmm, ‘Dharkon’… With a name like that they should have just called the other one ‘Liteoff’...'

Pit laughed at his own joke. Thankfully, no one was there to see him randomly laugh at nothing, that would’ve been awkward…

Pit groaned. He was upset, okay? They went through that entire world and found no trace of the people he personally knew, well, except Viridi, but her situation was… interesting, to say the least. 

But that’s also another thing: Pit’s not only upset at the situation _but himself._ His friends aren’t the only people in danger, and he’s not the only one who’s worrying over their family! There are countless people they need to rescue, not just people Pit knew!

Pit sighed once again. He’s been stuck in this circular train of thought for a while now.

Pit won’t mention anything, not yet, he knows they are out there, he doesn’t need to bring it up...

They have to be, right?

\--- 

“Hey, Pit! Can you take this stake and hammer and handle the other side of the tent?”

Getting shocked out of his thoughts, Pit looked over towards Samus. She was currently not wearing her suit (he’s been told it’s called ‘Zero Suit’), and around her waist was a makeshift utility belt. A couple of fighters were put in charge of building/setting up home base.

Pit was one of them.

Pit was grabbing the stuff from her hands, “Yeah! Don’t worry, I got it covered.”

Samus smiled and went back to her side. Pit stopped for a moment and looked at the things in his hands. He inhaled sharply and went to do his job. Might as well help out in any way he can, after all, with no sign of his friends he doesn’t really feel like doing much else.

At the side of the tent he was assigned, he kneeled down on the ground while pulling the rope taut. Keeping it tight, he put down the hammer for a second and picked up the stake. Pushing it into the hole of the rope as much as possible, he reached for the hammer again.

Hammer in hand, he had to act fast if he didn’t want the tent to fall over. Which he did, and quite well. After a few smacks of the tiny hammer, Pit stood up triumphantly and looked at his hard work. It was pretty sturdy, and Pit was proud, at least, for the few seconds it stood.

Looking at the tent, he watched as it did the cartoon ‘poof’ out of the ground and gently float down as the tarp it originally was. He fell backward on to his butt and sighed in disappointment. He was about to apologize, but someone did it for him.

“Oh jeez- I’m extremely sorry! Ivysaur, what did I tell you about pulling on tent ropes again?”

“Ivysaur…”

The trainer sighed, “Just make sure to not do it aga- Squirtle, no! No chewing on the wooden stakes! Do you want splinters on your tongue again!?”

Pit watched as the pseudo-mom chased after it’s rag-tag team of children. He stopped when he saw a feminine hand reach out for him. He slightly blushed and took it, standing up from his pity-party position.

“Hey, it’s alright, it took my group up in the top world more than one try to get our base set up too,“ Samus said, grinning in motherly support (almost like Palutena).

Pit stared at the fighter, before chuckling, “Really? What happened?”

Samus chuckled as well, “At least all that happened this time was the main support fell over. Let’s just say that Nana and Popo’s freezing is not that easily reversible when you’re not in battle.”

Pit took a moment to think about that statement, before letting out a grimace as he were in pain, and giving a look of ‘I’m so sorry’ to Samus. She still smiled anyway. Pit almost felt like nothing was wrong with the world for a moment.

“Hey-a, everyone! Listen up-a!”

Literally, everyone stopped, even the Pokemon Trainer and Squirtle, who were currently wrestling on the ground to get the stake out of the turtle’s mouth. It was easy to tell everyone wanted some kind of answers, or at least plans on what to do next.

Peach cleared her throat, “As you all know, it seems that preventing the end of the world is going to take a lot longer than any of us would like. To make this easier, many of us have made large groups with certain spirits to be sent and split up.”

Murmurs were heard from the crowd of 20 or 30 or so fighters. Large groups were a good idea, but splitting up still had this uneasy feeling behind it no one wanted to explore.

The leaders heard the concerns. Fox started speaking to rectify their fears, “We know this is far out there, but we need to take these ‘Gods’ down as soon as possible. If it makes any of you feel better, each group will have one of the ‘mains’ as we are called, in it.”

A collective sigh could be heard. While Pit didn’t make one externally, he was relieved he would have someone with better experience beside him. Marth stepped forward.

“Forgive me if this doesn’t matter as much as what everyone has been saying, but the spirits that have been chosen for your group are specifically chosen to be the most help possible on the foes you’ll be facing.”

More murmurs spread throughout, but this time, they were of confidence and assurance. Marth grinned, “Don’t worry, this might take so long we don’t know when it will end, but it will. We can all count on that.”

While the audience didn’t cheer, they definitely were speaking with the same amount of enthusiasm. Pit watched as everyone, even the mains, be filled with similar feelings of determination. While he was as well, why wasn’t it as impactful as he thought it would be?

For the next few minutes, groups were being handed out along with the respective spirits. Pit, having not been called yet, was sitting and waiting, lost in thought. Of course, he was thinking about strategies. Strategies on how to handle the fights, and what to do when he finds his friends.

He _will_ find them.

‘Alright. Just focus, be as mobile as possible, from what I’ve heard, my ‘smash attack’ is rather powerful with certain spirits (at least that’s what Ness told me), and I know how to handle Pittoo, but Palutena might be a little tricky if this mind control makes her use her full force-’

“-ey, Pit! You’re with us, is that okay?”

Letting out a ‘huh?’ signaling he was no longer in his thoughts, Pit looked in front of him to see Captain Falcon, along with Jigglypuff and a kid with a... squid on its head? Oh! The Inkling, right, it’s the girl that’s joining them.

Pit stood up quickly, “Y- yeah! You guys are cool!” The Inkling and Jigglypuff smiled and ran up to Pit. The Inkling turned into a squid and jumped into his arms while Jigglypuff rubbed his legs like a cat. Pit was basking in the love before a squeaky voice interrupted them.

“Oh, HECK no! I’m not teaming up with PITSTAIN!” A small ball of light shot out from behind Falcon and looked like it was going to smack Pit in the face. It thankfully stopped right in front of him, _thankfully_ , “Just because the end of the world is at stake doesn't mean I’m okay with everything!”

Pit pondered the voice for a second, before gasping, “Oh! Hey Viridi! I didn’t think I would be seeing you after that fight!” 

The ball of light ‘hmmph’ed, “I’m making this clear! This is for my sake, as well as the lives of the nature of this world! Not yours! Got it?” The ball of light was shaking as if it were a small child having a tantrum.

Pit grinned, this time cheekily, “Uh huh, you’re just mad that you didn’t get a copy of a cool fighter, aren’t you?” Pit gave some love back to the two fighters in his arms and at his legs, somewhat in an attempt to gloat, “Ha! That’s what- wait- you got to be yourself, isn’t that what you would want?” 

Viridi let out a noise that was a mixture between a groan and a screech.

\--- 

Pit sighed.

The place he was sent to explore was rather anti-climactic. It was a bunch of dust-clouds, over a giant broken gear and under a bunch of rocks; makes about as much sense as any of them would hope. Pit was looking out at the nothingness while Captain Falcon explained to them what they needed to find.

Don’t worry, Pit was listening, Viridi would smack him if he didn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that he can’t see more than four feet out in front of him! In fact, if he stretched out his arm flat in front of him, he wouldn't be able to see the tips of his fingers!

Oh well, maybe they’ll be able to find their way out soon, that is if Pit can find his teammates-

_If Pit can find his teammates?!_ Looking around in panic, it just occurred to Pit that he was now by himself. Letting out a short scream, Pit started running in a direction. Viridi wasn’t helping.

“Now look at what you’ve done! You lost your only chance at survival in a world you have never been to, and because of it, you have no idea what the world is like! Great job!”

Still running, Pit clapped back, “You weren’t obligated to follow me!”

Viridi sputtered, “I- well- uh… uuggghhh!”

Pit kept running in the same direction before stopping dead in his tracks in front of a ball of light. He looked at it intently. Oh, it was one of those troops everyone was talking about. Inspecting the spirit, Pit heard Captain Falcon’s voice. The man must’ve heard the kid’s feet when Pit was running.

“Hey, kid! You okay?! Wherever you are?!”

Pit was startled just a little bit. After all, he could no longer see where his group was, or any other spirit outside Viridi and the one he stumbled on. The enemy spirit in question had mostly red, orange, and yellow flames surrounding it, meaning it was one of the higher-ups of the enemy army, subsequently meaning it was harder.

Pit replied to Captain Falcon, “Yeah! I’m okay!”

Pit listened for a response, to which the Captain gave, “Good! I’m glad! Can you give me any direction to find you?!” Pit could hear his other teammates cry out in worry in their non-human speech.

Pit waved his hand over the enemy spirit to inspect it. Turns out, it was a metallic, gigantic Ridley. Pit whispered to Viridi, “Hey, what was your special ability again?”

Viridi shook in surprise, “What? It’s metal killing, obviously, but what does-”

Pit started yelling again, “Don’t worry, CF! I’ll find my way out!”

Pit was met with silence, before hearing, “Are you positive?!”

Pit nodded his head, before realizing he couldn’t do that, “Yes! I’ll be fine, trust me!”

Pit could hear the sigh of relief much louder than it probably was, “Okay! Stay safe, Pit!”

Pit finished the shouting match, “I will!”

Turning back to the spirit, Pit looked intensely at it. It couldn’t be that hard, right? Viridi certainly disagreed.

“ _WHAT?_ FACING THAT BY YOURSELF? I MIGHT BE HERE TO HELP YOU BUT WHAT ARE YOU ACTUALLY THINKING? I CAN’T BELIE-”

Shaking off her screeching, Pit stuck his hand into the ball of light. Next thing he knew, he was being sucked into it. Bracing himself, Pit was ready to be placed into the new stage.

Popping into the world, Pit was met with a draconic screech and insanse amounts of heat. Oh, there was lava here, great. Landing a few feet in front of him was the larger than normal Ridley. Pit heard the countdown to the start of the match.

Getting his bow out, Pit was ready to handle whatever it threw at him.

Mostly.

Hopefully.

\--- 

“Woo hoo! Yeah!” Pit jumped over the giant claw and slashed into the back of Ridley again.

Ridley screeched in pain. Instead of turning around and attacking again, the dragon/lizard/alien jumped away and _then_ turned around, watching Pit. Pit stood as well, also watching closely. Both were panting in exhaustion. Pit rubbed his mouth while Ridley was hyper-focused.

“C’mon, ding-a-ling! Just go in and finish it! It’s obviously tired!” Screeched a voice in Pit’s ear. Pit could tell Viridi was getting a little antsy, but he didn’t know why.

Pit let out a laugh anyway, “C’mon, Viridi! The colors suggested this would be one of the really hard troops! Sure, I’ve been swatted here and there, but other than that, what else has happened!”

Remember when Pit said he would be focused? Yeah, he’s not doing that, and in turn, might be his downfall. Pit feels a shudder travel down his spine.

Hearing a ding of a bell, Pit put his attention back on his opponent to see it-

_Start breathing fire?!_ Oh crap, where did it say _that_ would happen?! Pit let out a scream and dodged the fire blast, not before getting very lightly grazed by it. Most fighters would shake it off, but Pit was taken aback, maybe even a little too far.

‘Oh god, my wings! I can’t fly!’ Pit panicked internally.

Semi-crashing into the ground, Pit stood up and was nearly hit again. He still dodged it, but the hit was more than a light graze. Not exactly helping his headspace.

‘Oh, god it hurts-’ 

“Pit, what’s wron-” 

‘My wings, they hurt so _badly-_ ’ 

“-ap out of it!” 

‘Saving them was worth it but- oh my god _make it stop!_ ’ 

“ _PIT LOOK OUT!_

Pit snapped his head up to see a claw swiping at his eyes. He jumped back, pulled out his bow, and shot an arrow. It landed right on his target but said target was now glowing with rainbow colors.

‘Ah, shit- _whoops_ , sorry Lady! That just slipped out, I promise!’

Pit got into a defensive pose. He knows he can’t take a Final Attack with all the damage he’s received, but he has to be prepared regardless. Ridley jumped towards him, and Pit tensed up even more. He was expecting just about everything. 

Everything but what happened.

While the two fighters were watching each other, neither noticed the lava rising below them. It had risen so much that the two platforms they were using were the only ones they could see or use. Even the lava wall behind Ridley was slowing creeping up.

Ridley tried attacking but jumped short. Not only did he land straight into the lava at the floor, but the knockback combined with his damage also flung him into the lava wall behind him. Pit couldn’t tell what happened first: Ridley flying into the sky Team Rocket Style, or the alien breaking into many shiny pieces due to the amount of damage.

Pit was still dumbfounded, even as the ‘congragulations’ played over him with the music. The only thing that brought him out of it was the world, quite literally, flinging him out of the match. He landed on his back and stayed there, even with Viridi chastizing him.

Sitting up, Pit looked around at the foggy maze that he was originally in. All he could do at this point was look around for his teammates. Doing just that, he was interrupted when he heard the noise of a sword becoming unsheathed. Standing up quickly and turning around just as fast, he was met by a young, blue-haired woman.

“Oh! Hey! It’s you! I remember facing you at Lady’s Temple! What was your- Lucina! That’s right!” Pit waved enthusiastically, “Hi!”

The stoic emotion on her face didn’t change. She started walking towards him. Pit was unaware of the portal splitting open behind him.

Pit chuckled nervously, “H- He- Hey! So how’s life been? Were you excited coming back? If you don’t mind, how do you pronounce the name of your sword? Is it ‘Fal-chin’ or ‘Fal-sheon’? That is if you don’t mind telling me, Pittoo gave me a ‘bet’ and I would like to prove him wro- you’re awfully close to my fa-”

Pit let out a small scream when he was smacked in the face by the sword. He was flung back into the portal, the one that he was still not aware of, and once again, landed on his back.

Groaning, Pit sat up and watched Lucina step through the portal. An announcer called out her name, and Pit just realized what he had to do. Not from the name being announced, not from the portal, but from the deep, red glint in her eyes.

He has to free her. 

Standing up quickly once again, Pit unsheathed his swords and got ready to fight. Much to Viridi’s displeasure (once again).

“Aaaahhhh! Are you insane?! You just fought something! Oh for pete sakes, I’m gonna go get some help! Try not to die! At least, not yet! Not under my watch, is what I mean!-”

Pit watched as Viridi zoomed out of the fight and into the portal back to the real world, probably intent on getting him help. ‘See, Viridi, you _do_ care!’

Pit looked back at Lucina.

He doesn’t really know her, but he knows enough to be able to free her from her mental prison.

\---

Pit is technically winning, but this fight seems to be dragging on for _ever._

Jumping over her sword for the umpteenth time in a row, Pit pulled out his bow when she was right under him and fired a shot. Lucina, of course, blocked it, again. Watching the arrow bounce away, Pit groaned.

Pit landed far away, still watching Lucina. She was doing the same. Pit was getting ready to charge in, and he did, but halfway through his attack, he heard her start to talk. Pit stopped in his tracks.

It was more like murmuring, but from what Pit could hear, he picked up on everything she was seeing.

Lucina was panting somewhat, “Shut up. I’ve beaten you before, _I can do it again!_ ” She screamed and charged forwards at Pit. Of course, he dodged, but this time, instead of immediately attacking, he landed far away to avoid her but close enough to listen more.

Lucina was holding the handle of her sword in both hands, panting harder, “See? No matter how many you send at me, I won’t rest until you’re finished!” Lucina yelled the last part, following by swinging herself and her sword around until she was pointing at Pit.

Pit was taken back but got back into serious mode soon after. She must be scared out of her wits, experiencing what was probably her worst fear. Pit gripped his swords harder and charged into battle. He has to finish this quick.

If not for her sake, for his, he was exhausted.

Charging forward, both fighters let out a scream. This was the last hit for both of them, whoever was quicker would be the winner. Don’t worry, Pit had a plan. One that would have him not be hit at all.

Right as Lucina swung, Pit jumped over it like a jump rope, then landed back onto the floor quickly, and finished it off by grabbing her. He looked deep into her eyes, before lifting her up and tossing her behind him. Lucina landed with an ‘oof’, and with the damage she had, she flew into the non-existent ground below the stage.

Pit waited. And waited. And eventually was hit with the same ‘congragulations’. Pit sighed and stretched, but was soon interrupted by the world changing around him in the blink of an eye. No longer that old looking castle made of sandstone, he was back at that gear/fog maze he hates so much.

Pit looked around a little more to see Lucina knocked out and laying down on the ground next to him. She was groaning in her sleep, but she was okay, and, presumably, freed from the mind control. Standing there, Pit couldn’t help but fall on his butt with his eyes closed. Man, he was _really_ tired…

Opening his eyes to the sound of feet pounding the floor, he watched as Captain Falcon ran up to him and kneel down to eye level, “Hey, Pit! You alright? Your spirit friend came and found me. What do you ne- wait, is that-”

Pit grinned as if he were on anesthetics, “Hehe, I got someone!”

Next thing Pit knew was Falcon shouting his name, the wind on his back, and the black encasing his vision.

\--- 

Cracking his eyes open, Pit feels sore.

Slowly sitting up and scratching the back of his head, Pit took a moment to survey his surroundings. He was sitting on a bed, a nice one in fact, and the supplies around the room suggests that he is someplace a doctor roams. Someone else is in the room with him-

Wait, _what!?_

Pit jerked his head to see this person, who happened to be Lucina lost in thought. Well, at least Pit thinks so, he doesn’t find Lucina to be the person to stare at a wall for no reason. Whatever she’s doing, she was very focused on it.

Pit let out a couple noises trying to figure out what to say. Jeez, is this how Lucario felt after saving him? ‘Hey dude, I know I just beat you to a pulp but it was really because you were under mind control but that doesn’t change the fact I kinda _beat you to a pulp-_ ’

Lucina sneezed, bringing Pit out of his thoughts. She seemed somewhat embarrassed by it.

Pit thought this would be a good conversation starter, “Uh, bless y-”

“Thank you.”

Pit stopped talking and let out a ‘huh?’

Lucina cleared her throat, “Sorry for being abrupt, but- thank you, for saving me. I was listening in on the others talking, they had no idea I was anywhere near or in that area, so, thank you, again.”

Pit was a little shocked, but still kept the conversation going forward, “Oh, yeah, no problem! It’s my specialty, protecting those who need it!”

Lucina was stoic. Other than the nod of her head, Pit was getting nervous at the lack of expression. Great, it was heading back into awkward silence territory. Pit had to think fast if he wants to end it.

Pit thought back to their fight, “Hey, uh, Lucina, right?

Lucina blinked, she didn’t think there would still be more talking, “Yes, that is my name. Is there anything you need to know… uh-”

“Pit is mine,” replied the angel, “and, uh, if you don’t mind, what were you seeing while we were fighting? I heard you talking to someone and I was just curious about-”

Pit stopped once he saw the woman grip her sheets with white knuckles.

Pit backtracked, “I- uh, of course, you don’t have to talk about it! I mean, obviously, you were seeing something pretty bad to make you fight me for no reason- you know what, I’m just gonna shut my big fat mouth and-”

“I hate to interrupt the party, but Dr. Mario is back.”

Both Pit and Lucina snapped out of their respective emotion to see Samus at the door, this time in her suit. Right behind her was Dr. Mario indeed. The man walked in and set down a box no doubt full of tools to make sure they were okay.

The check-up went well. They had minor injuries leftover, and as long as they have a day of rest, they should be able to head out like normal. The three people in the room thanked the doctor as he walked out, and right as he left, Samus turned around to look at Pit.

Pit didn’t like the feeling that spread over his body.

Samus took a deep breath and let it go, “Pit, what in the world were you thinking?! Fighting a legendary alone? Not waiting for your group? _Telling_ said group to _leave you?!_ I support you trying to better your skills, but what you did what dangerous and reckless!”

Following the rant was the exact kind of awkward silence Pit was trying to avoid.

Pit was sitting there, practically white in the face, when Lucina interjected, “Well, from what I’ve heard, while I agree what Pit did was, rather stupid, would you have been able to get to me if he hadn’t at that moment?”

Samus stopped her chastizing, “Well, no, there’s no guarantee I suppose-”

Lucina metaphorically put her foot down, “Then I’d say Pit did okay. Not great, not smart, just okay. I owe my life to him.”

Samus let out a sigh somewhere between relief and exhaustion, “Just- don’t do something like that again, Pit. We understand what you did, but believe it or not, the others that are already here care for you as well.”

Lucina noticed Pit’s grimace but didn’t say anything.

Samus took a deep breath, “As long as you know better. Besides, both of you have been put under bed rest for the next 24 hours. I hope you use it well. Goodnight, friends, we have many more long days ahead of us.” The Metroid fighter started leaving. Both fighters said their goodbyes.

“Right.”

“Yeah, and- uh, Samus?”

The woman stopped walking out of the room.

“Thank you, for…”

Pit couldn’t see it, but Samus smiled behind her suit, “No problem, Pit.”

The woman finally walked out of the room. Following her departure, the two fighters did indeed fall asleep. It wasn’t much in the long run, but it did feel nice for the few moments they got.

Waking up, the first thing they did was grab their gear and leave the room. Pit tried to say a final goodbye, but Lucina was just too quick. For the rest of the day they did small things separately: check up on others, talk to friends, smaller objectives, things like that. Right as the time struck that they were okayed to go at, a meeting was called.

It was short, but it gave all the objectives for the day. Long story short, half the cast was to go out and traverse the fog maze to find the next ‘dungeon’ while the other half stayed behind to watch over the camp, keep up communications, etc.. The people going out to fight the ‘dungeon’ were informed to head in whenever you find it.

Which is where they were now, right outside said maze. Pit took a huge gulp. He was also going to voice an opinion, but most of everyone had already gone in, either in groups of two or groups of three.

Pit jumped in shock and ran in as well, trying not to be left behind (and somewhat failing). Back in the clouds of terror, Pit looked around frantically. Everything was about the same, vision only going as far as his hand could reach in front of him.

Then he saw it. It wasn’t very bright, but he could definitely see a small light that shouldn’t be there normally. Throwing consequence to the wind, Pit ran towards it. Not judging the distance, Pit couldn't slow down in time and smacked right into the person.

Falling backwards, Pit landed on his butt (again) while the voice yelled at him, “What in the world are you doing!?- Wait, Pit?” The angel looked up to see Lucina holding a glowing sword, somewhat glaring at him.

Pit stood up quickly and laughed off the nervousness, “Oh, hey Lucina. So... I-kinda-got-lost-again-and-saw-your-light-which-made-me-think-‘huh-that-shouldn’t-be-there’-so-I-kinda-did-something-stupid-again-and-ran-towards it-but-I-didn’t-start-slowing-down-in-time-so-”

Pit was interrupted by a large creak in the distance. Letting out a squeak of terror, Pit jumped behind Lucina and grabbed her shoulders. Pit started blushing and let go immediately.

“Ah! I’m sorry! I’m just a little jumpy right now, ya know? So, yeah, you know why I ran into you like you were some kind of safety blanket so- yeah I’ll just leave-” Pit turned around to do just that.

Lucina was just perplexed at this point, “Hey, Pit?”

Pit stopped and turned around, “Yeah?”

Lucina stood up more straight, glowing sword still in her hands, “You wanna stay with me?”

Pit looked behind him as if she were talking to someone else, then looked back at her with a stereotypical confused look and pointed at himself.

Lucina shook her head, “Yes, you, I feel like you need someone to be your partner, and, well, there’s no one else around us right now so…”

Pit was still confused, but smiled a little bit anyway, “Really? Are you sure I can join you?”

Lucina nodded (which she seems to do a lot). Pit was full on grinning now. He went behind her again. Feeling Pit’s hands on her shoulders, she couldn’t help but grin, just a little bit, “Besides, you remind me a lot of my little brother.”

Pit was surprised she started small talk, but continued nonetheless, “Wait, really?”

Lucina nodded, “Yeah, and, if you want, I could tell you the time I tried using my sword against a flying cockroach to protect him as well as myself.”

Pit beamed at the idea of a story, but laughed at the idea as well, “Seriously! What happened?”

Lucina turned back to look forward. She started walking, and Pit started following, “It started on a rather nice day. I was doing my own things when I heard him absolutely screeching from down the hall…”

\--- 

Coughing, Pit started up small talk again, “Boy, the smell of this place sure is bad, huh?”

Lucina’s sword was warm from the repeated glowing. Pit still had his hands on her shoulders and was still following her guidance, “I haven’t been able to tell.” She stuck her sword out farther. Pit let out a noise meaning ‘oh okay’ and gripped Lucina closer.

Looks like silence reverts her back to her stoic nature, good to know.

After a few more minutes, the two stumbled their way out of the foggy maze and found a giant portal. It was bigger than the two combined, with a red-tint and two glowing eyes staring at them. Neither said it, but both were a little fearful.

Pit was the first to talk, “Uh, should we wait for backup?”

Lucina let out a ‘hmm’, “They said to go in if you can and could handle it.”

Pit laughed nervously, “Y- Yeah, I remember, but do we- hey! What are you doing?”

Lucina walked past Pit, “Going in. If you wish, you can stay out here and wait, but I won’t.”

Pit sputtered in shock. Who in the world was this lady? Lucina took it as confirmation that he would wait and started walking in. To her surprise, she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to look at Pit, who now had a newfound look of determination on his face.

Lucina let out a noise of shock, before nodding her head. If Pit says he’s capable, then he is, she’s not one to take it away from him. With her sword out, and Pit unsheathing both of his, the two fighters looked back at the portal.

They took a deep breath, then let out a scream and charged at the foe.

Entering the portal, the two stopped and looked around. Both were expecting a challenger of some sort. Neither of them was expecting- well, _this._

Both fighters let out a long, drawn-out ‘woah’ at what they were seeing. The big building they were looking at was a giant castle. It had vines all over the walls, as well as some bricks missing, which left holes that shouldn’t be there, and the sound of rain could be heard but neither could feel any hitting their skin.

But what really caught them off guard was the dark, purple sky, and the seemingly darker gas like beings that could be seen in the holes and windows of the castle. Lucina sheathed her sword while still basking in the intimidation. Pit’s mouth was still wide open.

“Hey, Lucina?”

“Yes, Pit?”

“Have you met those two new guys? The Hercules looking one and the one that kinda looks like his emo younger brother?”

Lucina snorted involuntarily, but put back on her semi-stoic natural emotion, “Yes, I met them briefly when I first came back.”

Pit stepped forward a little bit, he was now closer to the castle than her, “Where did they come from?”

Lucina also stepped forward, now at the same distance, but is also standing closer to Pit, “I believe they said their world was called ‘Castlevania’.”

Pit’s eyes were still wide, “Uh huh, did they say what their objective was?”

While Lucina was still physically stoic, she had the same amount of anxiety Pit was experiencing, “I believe they mentioned their goal was to kill Dracula.”

The two fighters jumped at thunder striking the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi yeah i lied: i mapped this out and its actually going to be 9 chapters (9 is an epilogue). be forewarned that i am slow with updates, especially with school biting my tookus. i also have my other really popular fic that i need to focus on so you know- all im saying that if an update takes a month or two dont panic!! im not dropping this story :)
> 
> do let me know of glaring typos!! i dont have anyone who can proofread my work
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	3. The Exalt and the Angel(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, this castle is certainly a vampire's castle. The amount of renaissance paintings... makes Pit shudder. Right, right, the elephant in the room: Lucina getting more and more, er- 'uncomfortable'. Whatever it is, she sure isn't having fun-
> 
> Hey, wait a minute, isn't that?... Hold on! I'm coming!
> 
> (So is Lucina, but you don't know her yet. You'll get to soon though!)

“How’s it going down there?!”

The boy in question grunted due to the weight, “Yep! Everything’s chill! You know, these cannonballs are more like metallic bouncy balls! I feel if we threw them at the ghosts it would have the same amount of damage!” 

With the roll of her eyes and a slight grin on her face, Lucina leaned back from over the ledge to observe the area. 

They’ve made it pretty far into the castle, even finding some fighters and releasing them. Unfortunately, it’s only been three of them, those three being Daisy, Ridley, and Wario. The two puzzle solvers couldn’t afford to backtrack and lose this place, so they took the freed fighters to the start of the castle and told them to rest and wait.

They would be safer at the beginning of this place anyway, considering they took down all of the spirits, even the ones that weren’t in their way and didn’t need to be fought. Though, if Pit had to mention anything about their stellar journey, it would be how Lucina was faring.

The more people they fought the more she seemed to get… unnerved, to say the least. To most, she would just seem tired and wouldn’t be able to tell what's really wrong, but Pit can, but he doesn’t know _why_ she’s halfway to freaking out.

Is it the atmosphere? The stages? The fighting styles? Maybe exhaustion really is catching up to her, not that he blames her, he certainly feels the same way, but the way she tenses up and grips her sword tighter when she looks at them for the first time… it has to be more than just a simple bout of fatigue, right?

Whatever it is, he has to ask later, because he’s now at the top of the stairs where Lucina is on watch duty, waiting for any spirits that could come out of the dark, catching them off guard. Man, this girl _really_ doesn’t have a relaxation mode, does she?

Dropping the ammo on the ground dramatically, Pit wiped his brow with his arm, “Okay! With the riddles reset, we should have enough cannon balls to make it to the end, right?”

Lucina seemed to be counting their findings, mouthing off the number and pointing at each separate ammo, “Yep, three cannonballs. It has to be, considering that’s all the world gives us at one time.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense, but why three?”

“Well, if life has ever taught me anything, it’s that a good riddle looks impossible, but in actuality is, ridiculously stupid once you figure it out.”

“Because _that_ makes sense.”

“Believe me, it never really does.”

The wind picked for a moment, ruffling Pit’s feathers and blowing Lucina’s hair into her face.

The fighters were slightly annoyed, but it was just wind. Running their hands over their respective rustled parts, they were going to say the obvious (“Let’s continue”) but Lucina watched as something caught Pit’s attention.

A black feather.

It floated in front of Pit’s face before the wind blew it back down the stairs he just walked up. Lucina was content with ignoring it (she swears she saw ravens in this place) until Pit gasped and booked it back down, leaving her in the dust.

“H- Hey! Wait up!”

Lucina followed swiftly.

Getting back down the stairs into the room they call the ‘gallery’ due to its abundance of paintings on the walls, Lucina saw Pit concentrating all his focus on the black feather. She stood back because while she was, incredibly confused, she wanted to know what about the feather entranced the angel so much.

With both sets of eyes on the feather, they watched as is twirled around and eventually get sucked into the fireplace in the room. Again, Lucina thought that would be the end, but Pit had other ideas. He followed the feather and practically shoved his face into the charred gap in the wall.

“Ah! What are you doing?!”

“Things.”

Lucina blinked at the dry response. Pit _always_ answers with some kind of inflection, hearing him be monotone was… weird. Walking over, she was now next to Pit, but she also was still standing, not kneeling, and didn’t have her head _shoved in a fireplace._ Tapping her foot, she was about to copy Pit to see what about the chimney has Pit so focused.

Then, Pit started climbing the chimney.

“ _Wait!_ What does that feather have to do with the world we’re in? Do we need it to solve a puzzle?”

She could only see Pit’s feet now, “Not this one specifically, but it does involve mine.”

The sword wielder wanted to ask more questions, but then immediately answered all of them from thinking about it.

Pit was an angel. His wings were made of feathers. _but it does involve mine._

Oh...

Lucina decided not to say anything anymore and just wait. Once Pit was completely out of her vision, she too kneeled down, crawled over, and started climbing. She waited until Pit was about a foot above her before climbing up a little more. In about 10 minutes, both fighters had made it to the roof next to the one they were on.

A roof neither expected to be able to reach.

With charcoal covering them in various spots from head to toe, they looked at a new spirit. It was fairly simple, a grey Kirby controlled by a Boo. They were already capable of handling it, but it killing itself wasn’t a bad touch.

Pit was stretching when they got taken back to the castle and out of the fight’s stage, “Man, it would be nice if I could actually fight something and finish it off myself for once, wouldn’t it?”

Lucina couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her mouth. She quickly covered it up while Pit gasped in glee. He put his hands together like a happy child (which he kinda was).

“You _can_ laugh! Here I was thinking you didn’t have the ability too!”

Lucina cleared her throat and took her hand away from her mouth, “Yes, I can enjoy a few jokes here and there. In fact, it’s one of my favorite things to do.”

Pit still had his mouth open in joy, “Right! That’s what Lady Palutena told me about you! You could be quite the prankster if you let your guard down… for once in your life.” Pit cheekily grinned at her.

Lucina smiled and rolled her eyes, “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.”

Both fighters couldn’t help but forget the world around them for a moment, right until Pit felt the world go slow-mo. He watched as a bow user behind Lucina drew up an arrow and fire it at her. Dropping the smile, he ran forward yelling out her name. He, thankfully, grabbed her and yanked her out of the way in time.

Tripping and landing on his back with Lucina on top of him, Lucina got off before he could shove her away. Not to be rude, no way, but that arrow seemed awfully familiar. With both fighters’ weapons drawn and standing defensively, they waited for their opponent to leave the shadows.

Lucina tensed once again at the sight of a mind-controlled fighter, but Pit was too busy not believing who it was. Lucina saw him let his guard down just a little bit.

“Pittoo?”

Lucina watched as a nearly identical angel of Pit step out and stand in front of them. Pit had an emotion between relief and anger on his face. Obviously, if not by looks alone, Lucina could tell that, at the very least, Pit cared deeply for what was his family (obviously his family, they look like a mirror image of each other!).

That’s one thing they could relate on. It’s exactly why Lucina kept following Pit to where ever that feather took them. She knew there was some kind of connection Pit had to it. A connection he cared deeply for.

The portal split open behind the dark angel, and Pit took no time to tackle him in, once again, leaving Lucina behind. However, she took no time to follow in and get ready to release another victim of Dharkon’s games.

No matter how uneasy she felt about them, she had a job to do. She was a leader, not a follower, she would never cower at the sight of-

She was in the new stage when she stopped walking forward, only for a moment. She needed to take a deep breath before continuing forward. She eventually caught up to Pit, who was standing and staring in the most serious stance she had ever seen him in.

The countdown started.

Pit hoped this would be as quick as possible.

Lucina did as well, but for completely different reasons.

\---

The fight was going exactly the same Pit and Lucina’s went.

The freed fighters would take a shot and Dark Pit would reflect or dodge, then Dark Pit would take his and also miss. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and-

‘Aaaaagghhh! Is this how Pit felt fighting me?’ Lucina walked away from the fight just for a moment to catch her breath. Looking at the two still going it, she made note of Pit, who looked like he was going all in, but in actuality was being rather gentle in his attacks. It was kind of… sweet, to see him do that.

Then their staff swords would clash and clang and she maybe wondered how sweet it really was that you had to fight your mind controlled brother who only wanted to kill you. When she gets home, she’s gonna look at Morgan and tell him that she was right about not needing to pout over not being invited. Even studying his spells was better than this.

She made sure to keep her gaze on Pit while resting, however, as she worried about what would happen if she looked at the twin with his glaring red eyes, which probably wouldn’t be good for her. Speaking of watching Pit, she watched as her new acquaintance get slashed across the chest and nearly go flying off the stage. She jumped back into battle when Pit thankfully got close enough and gripped the ledge.

Sneaking around, she was able to get close enough to their challenger to land another hit, much like the one he did to the angel on her side. Getting a nice hit across his chest, Lucina looked up and did the one thing she wanted to avoid.

She looked into his eyes (the black hair and clothes certainly didn’t help).

Watching him fly back into Pit, who moved to give the dark angel a chance to fly off the ledge, then proceeded to follow said dark angel in case he didn’t, Lucina stopped and tried taking deep breaths to ground herself… and failed horribly

‘No- they _can’t_ still be a thing, I mean- we got rid of them all! _Dammit!_ ’

Pit grabbed Pittoo and flung him, but he quickly recovered and pulled out his bow. Shooting an arrow at Pit, the freed angel jumped away and dodged, getting closer to Lucina in hopes he could communicate a plan with her, but when turning his head to look at her, she zoomed past her partner and towards Dark Pit.

Pit stopped walking and stood in his spot, taking a moment to catch his breath. He watched as Lucina dove in and fought with all she had. Swinging left and right, jumping all around, both fighters giving it all. Since Pit was unaware of what was really happening (what Lucina was thinking), he looked on in pure awe. He was astounded at the mobility of Lucina- her moves, her strategies, her speed: Lucina was absolutely amazing. He couldn’t take his eyes away even if he wanted to!

Pit notes to himself that she didn't need to, but why hasn’t she been using these moves to fight all this time?

Lucina ended the fight when Dark Pit went for a strike of his sword instead of staying back and firing an arrow. Taking the opportunity, Lucina tilted her sword down and waited for Dark Pit to hit. When he did, her sword started glowing for just a moment.

With one final counter-attack, Dark Pit went flying backwards, off into the distance where they couldn’t go. Pit blinked in shock when the familiar ‘congratulations’ was heard. Jeez, he always gets surprised by that. Granted, he was kinda focused on the show in front of him.

Once again, the world reverted back to the gloomy roof. Pit looked up ahead to see his brother knocked out on the ground with Lucina in between them. Pittoo wasn’t moving, and chances are that means he’s finally freed. Finally…

“Woo hoo! Alright!” Pit stuck his fist in the air and smiled as wide as possible. Keeping the grin, he brought his hand back down to his side and looked at Lucina, who had her back to him, “Hey! Lucina! That was _amazing_ what you did. Thank you so-”

Pit’s eyes finally focused on his friend. She was still holding her sword, and her body had much more of a fighting pose than it did a stoic one. Pit let out a small ‘huh?’ when walking over to get closer to Lucina. When he got next to her right side, he realized where her vision was looking.

It was on Pittoo.

Now that he was closer to notice, her eyes were sunken in as well, almost had a fearful look to them. Not to mention her breathing was very rapid. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them, she started walking to Pittoo, still glaring, and sword still ready to strike.

‘She doesn’t think the battle is over,’ Pit realized. In fact, he doesn’t think she knows she’s not, well- _here_ at all! Not mentally, anyway. What was that called? When someone is ‘here’ but not? Lady had a word for it, wasn’t it flas-

Oh no.

Pit took no time to start running over to his brother, turning his path just a little bit so he could end up in front of him, not next to him. Almost there, Pit rotated his gaze and looked Lucina, who wasn’t making any effort to see the battle was over. The angel gulped: he had to do _something._

… Screw it.

“ _Wait!_ ”

Jumping in the way, Lucina stopped her advancement when Pit decided to jump between the unconscious fighter and the one that seems to still have a little juice left. Both conscious ones were panting, on high alert, and waiting for the other to make a move first. Lucina had her sword pointing at the angels while Pit had his hands out in front of him, cautioning the woman who was not with it.

Lucina’s panting was more like gasping at this point, all while she was shaking and gripping the handle of her sword like her life depended on it (she probably thought it did). Pit was still holding his ground, thinking of ways to get her back to reality. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to do much.

With his hands still up out in front of him, he watched as Lucina blinked out of whatever mind frame she was in, then drop to the floor on her knees. With the ‘clank’ of her sword hitting the ground, she started hugging her midsection. Her gasping was easily on the verge of hyperventilating.

Pit took no time running over and kneeling down next to her (man, what did humans call this? Deja vu?). He gently gripped her shoulders to get her attention, even calmly whisper-shouted her name, but she was too far into la-la-land at the moment to notice.

Well, whatever place she’s in, it probably ain’t pretty.

“Oh gods, of _course_ they wouldn’t be here- I mean- _fuck_ , why would they be _anywhere_ we _killed them all-_ gods I’m such an _idiot-_ ” She would continue to chastise herself while Pit figured out what the best course of action would be.

He tried the soft approach, “Hey… Hey, Lucina, you’re okay.”

“I almost killed an _innocent_ person- or angel- or whatever, but it still-” Lucina was still locked in her own tunnel vision and mind. Time to try harder.

“ _Lucina._ ” 

He was still gentle, but this time called out her name a little more firmly, and thank Palutena above, it worked. Lucina’s attention snapped to Pit, who had nothing but concerned eyes and comforting words.

“Hey, Lucina, everything alright?” Pit tilted his head to get a closer look at her face, but she moved it so he couldn’t do that. She seems to be dodging his gaze, but _why?_

“Yeah... I’m good, don’t- yeah... I’m fine.”

Lucina rubbed the bridge of her nose and looked away from Pit completely. The angel took it as a sign that Lucina needed to register things by herself. Pit stood up and stretched out the kinks in his joints. Looking back at Lucina, Pit couldn't help but think she feels ashamed for what she just did. 

Pit reached his hand out in comfort, and to give her support to stand, “C’mon, let’s take Pittoo to the front where you can hang out while I finish off the-”

“No! Wait- please let me continue-”

“What, no, Lucina, obviously you need to-”

“Need to keep going, please Pit, I haven’t-”

“Lucina, please, I don’t think-”

“ _No!_ ”

Pit stopped and took a moment to look at Lucina closely. The girl had small tear tracks on her cheeks and was biting her lip, along with all of the other aforementioned details. She stared at Pit as if he could snap his fingers and make everything revert back to more peaceful times. 

“I _have_ to keep going… _please._ ”

Pit blinked in shock. This was about the most emotional he’s seen her… _at any_ point in time he’s been with her. Running through all the options in his head, the angel let out a sigh in relent. As much as he’s not fond of the idea, he knows that Lucina isn’t going to let up.

Pit reached his hands out in semi-defeat, “Alright, we can keep going, but first, let me settle things with Pittoo, and while I do that, see if you can ground yourself before we head out. Is that okay?”

Still hugging her midsection, Lucina shakily nodded.

Pit glanced back at Lucina one more time before heading over to his long-awaited family. Getting over, Pit watched his brother wake up, shake off the fatigue, and look up at Pit. Dark Pit let out a small screech and jumped backwards.

“Hey, hey! Pittoo it’s alright, everything is okay now. You're free.” Pit had his arms out, cautioning his brother as if he were a frightened animal (boy, that seems to be the theme of the day). Dark Pit was panting, but stopped once he realized how he was acting.

He shook his head and brought back his stone-faced facade, “Would you knock it off? I’m not some rabid animal you need to capture you know.”

Pit froze for a moment. Yep, there’s the good old Pittoo he knows and loves. Letting out a small laugh of relief, he was glad he got this moment, “Good to know you haven’t changed at all since this whole thing started.”

Dark Pit might’ve looked like he was annoyed, but Pit knows that he also has the same feeling of relief, “Yeah yeah, by any chance could you _explain_ ‘this whole thing’ and why I’m in Medusa’s Dream castle?”

Pit put his hand behind his head, “Well, it’s a long story. You remember that giant ball of deadly rainbow feathers?”

Dark Pit grimaced. Pit will take that as a yes.

“Well, it’s gone now, but his half-brother looking thing? Yeah let’s go with that- ‘Dharkon’ as he is named, came in and snatched up everyone else- which includes you- and became the new enemy God thing we have to fight. Make enough sense? Yet?”

Dark Pit blinked a few times before answering, “Yeah I guess. Doesn’t mean it’s any less stupid.” Dark Pit shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, well, if I’ve seen anything, life or death situations of the universe itself have never exactly been _fair_ to begin with.” Pit copied his mirror image and also shoved his hands in his pockets.

… _Again_ with the awkward silence. Pit's about to carry a giant sign saying 'no silence allo-'

“Where do we go from here?” Dark Pit asked. Pit realized he hasn’t told his brother where to go.

“Oh, right! Well, you see those stairs over there?” Pit grabbed Pittoo’s shoulders to turn him to face the right direction. Using his other hand that wasn't on a shoulder, Pit pointed at the stairwell he was talking about, “You take those down into the building. Once you get inside you should be able to see more stairs. You do that once more time and-”

“Any step _not_ involving stairs?”

“Mmm hmm! Now you should be at the ground floor! Once you get outside the building, you should find a hole in the ground with a ladder sticking out of it. Climb down that and keep going down until you reach the bottom. Keep walking past all the cannons until you get to the other side of the cave. There, you climb another ladder up and you should be right at the start! If it’s not there you might have to go through one more building, but other than that?”

Pit jumped away from his brother with his hands in the air in familiar Pit fashion.

Pittoo looked at Pit like the original angel said some kind of blasphemy. Shrugging his shoulders, Dark Pit started walking anyway, “Yeah alright, I get it, then let’s- _wait!_ You’re not going to lead me there yourself?!” Dark Pit looked back to see Pit turned around and walking away.

Pit turned back around, “Uh, no? I kinda have to stay.”

Dark Pit was speechless for once in his life, “But- I- you’re _Pit!_ Mr. ‘I’m gonna give Pittoo a hug even if he stabs me’ isn’t going come _with_ me?”

Pit laughed but still kept his foot down, “Seriously Pittoo, we have to keep going. I can’t leave right now.”

“Wha- C’mon, I thought you’d be dying to see-”

“ _No,_ Pittoo, I have to stay with her.”

Dark Pit jumped a little at that final response. The two angels were left staring at one another: Pit semi-glaring and Pittoo at a loss for words. 

Looks like everyone is experiencing new emotions in this trying time.

After a brief moment of silence, Pit realized how snappy he was, and tried to think of a way to bring back a more light-hearted conversation, “Unless… you want me to hold your hand all the way there?” Pit gasped dramatically, “Awww, Pittoo! It’s alright if you’re scared-”

“Shut up! I’m not a baby, I got your directions. Just make sure to stay alive so you can lead me, and apparently the rest of us, back to- where ever you and your escort have home base located.”

Pit’s feathers were ruffled, “Hey! She is _not_ my-” Pit stopped his rant once he realized the other part of Pittoo’s sentence. Pit started playfully grinning, “Wait a minute! You’re worried about me! _That’s_ why you're so adamant! I can’t believe-”

“Oh my god, please shut up-”

“You want me to make it back safe, _don’t_ you-”

“You said to take those stairs? Yeah okay, _I’m taking them now-_ ”

“Bye Pittoo!~ Hope you have fun meeting the others when you get there!”

Dark Pit was practically running when he got over to the stairwell. Pit was still smiling even as the dark angel became obscured from his vision. Pit let out another sigh. Time to continue forward, and time to figure out the _other_ situation at hand.

Pit went back over to Lucina, who was now standing, and no longer shaking, at least, not enough for anyone to notice. She was also looking at the ground, deep in thought. Pit stopped and waited for a response, and he got one when she snapped out of her thoughts and looked towards Pit.

“I’m ready to go now.”

“Alrighty, let’s march forward.”

The two heroes did just that, each wondering what would happen next.

\---

The atmosphere surrounding the valiant heroes is… calm at best.

Currently filled with the awkward silence that Pit hates so much, he was carrying two of the cannonballs while Lucina carried one. Don’t worry, he didn’t mind carrying more, in fact, he asked if he could (he didn’t want her to carry more than one, to be honest), but what bothered him was the sullen look in Lucina’s eyes.

Pit pulled the ammo closer to his body and walked a little faster so he could walk side-by-side next to the forlorn girl. Getting up to speed, Pit slowed back down and looked in the direction they were walking, not meeting her eyes. It seems they were coming up onto a large tower.

Pit at first gulped but then sighed to convey his true emotion. Yeah, the tower was intimidating, but at this point, the angel was too tired to be intimidated. Getting brought out of his train of thought, he looked over at Lucina, who was still looking at her feet.

Now _this_ was the hard puzzle: figuring how to bring up what happened and have both people stay in one piece. The first step, of course, is to get her attention. Okay, he could do that. Clearing his throat, Pit waited for a response.

She was still lost in thought.

Alright, this time, he cleared his throat louder. There we go! Blinking out of her thoughts, Lucina stopped walking, and Pit copied her movements. He was directly in front of her, closer to the tower they were walking towards. His back was to it, allowing him to look at Lucina directly.

Lucina flitted her vision around before biting the bullet, “I’m sorry, Pit, I shouldn’t have-”

“Wait, what? I’m not, mad, or angry- Okay, maybe a little disappointed-” Lucina flinched a little, “but in reality I just want answers. What in the world happened back there?”

Lucina let out a deep breath she didn’t know she was holding, “Yeah, okay, it’s the least I can do, especially at this point,” she placed the silver cannonball down on the ground, Pit following shortly, then stood back up to her full height, “what would you like to know specifically, Pit?”

“Thank you!” Pit stood up fully as well, now they were staring at each other’s eyes, ready for whatever was to come, “What about these fighters makes you so-” Pit waved his hands in a general motion, “- antsy?”

Lucina used her right hand to grip her left arm, biting her lip with anxiety, “Well, the answer seems simple in theory, but I’m worried the explanation won’t be as short.”

“Well…” Pit scratched behind his head, “Ooh! Compromise! Since we don’t have unlimited time, how’s about you just tell me the reason now, then explain it when we get back to camp, okay?”

Lucina looked at him like he had just offered her the answers to all her problems, but quickly wiped off the emotion and answered Pit’s long-awaited question, “Well, to be blunt, it’s about… their eyes.” Lucina whispered out the last part of her statement.

Pit blinked in shock, “Uh, really?”

Now Lucina was the one surprised. That was the reaction he had to give? “Um, yeah, the red-glint in their eyes… it’s not exactly giving me good memories. I guess your brother, or, whoever he was, was just the final straw. I’m sorry, again, I should have told you about this sooner. I wasn’t very dutiful about my job.”

Utter silence followed her confession. She was waiting for more confusion, maybe even the anger she expected he was holding back. What she was _not_ expecting, was for Pit to let out a yawn and stretch his arms over his head while simultaneously stretching out his wings.

“Well, that answers that! Finally, I thought you’d never tell!” Pit stopped stretching and leaned over to pick up the ammo he set down prior to the conversation, “Don’t forget to tell me more when we get back to camp, alright?” Standing back up with the ammo in his arms, he smiled toward Lucina, who seemed to be waiting for some kind of reprimand, “C’mon! These puzzles won’t solve themselves!”

Lucina was awestruck as she watched Pit do a 180 and start walking to the tower. Grinning slightly, she also leaned down to pick up her cannonball and followed Pit into the next puzzle. Stopping at the tower in question, she gave one last look to Pit, to which the angel just smiled at again.

Then, a giant ‘bong’ struck the world, vibrating both the building and the two fighters. So the next puzzle involved a clock in some way, good to know. Looking back towards each other one more time, the fighters walked into the tower once and for all.

Getting inside, they were met with huge, rotating gears powering the place. In various places were the ghosts they had been killing the entire time they have been here. Along with the ghosts were cannons that were the exact same to the ones outside, and ladders and levers that are no doubt apart of the whole scheme.

On the opposite end of where they were standing was a semi-large hole. Outside the hole was a large rotating wall they had come across much earlier in the castle grounds. It was completely vertical, as they assumed that’s what they needed it to be whenever they would use it.

Lucina let out a small ‘hmm’ before looking around. Her eyes landed on a cannon about 10-20 feet above her head. Following its trajectory, she noticed that it wouldn't hit the large wall she was thinking about. Holding the cannonball closer, she climbed the ladder anyway.

While Pit had said nothing so far, he was watching her every movement to see what she would do. After all, he’s found Lucina to be more of a doer than a thinker. His observation paid off, as he saw Lucina climb up the ladder, then look around more. He watched her body language, which showed that she found something useful.

He watched her climb the _actual gears_ before she disappeared behind them entirely. He was about to call out and make sure she was okay but instead had his question answered when he heard a cannonball fire out of a cannon and kill one the spirits that would no doubt eventually be in their way.

Pit now had a different question, “Hey! What’s the next plan?!”

He watched as Lucina poked her head out over the gears like a mole in whack-a-mole, “Well, get rid of the rest of these ghosts! But the rest of them are in places the cannons won’t reach if we fire them normally!”

Pit scratched the back of his head again, “Well, what do you propose we do?!”

Lucina looked around to find what to do next. With her newfound height, she could see a few more details than what she could just see on the ground. There! A few feet away from Pit was a decent sized hole with a ladder sticking out of it.

“Hey, Pit?!”

“Yes?!”

Lucina jerked her head towards her new discovery, “Would you mind heading down there and telling me if you see anything?! I can come back down and do it if you don’t want to!” She pointed at said discovery so Pit knew where to go. He looked in that direction, let out a meager ‘oh’, then set down his cannonballs and did what she asked.

He slid down the ladder and landed on a small platform. His eyes landed on the cannon waiting for him, “All I see is a cannon, Lucina!” Pit turned around to find a wall leaning towards him, “Wait! There’s also another wall we have to rotate!”

Lucina heard and started looking around again. Finally turning around, she found a lever. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked over to it and yanked on it hard. She listened for a reaction and got one in the sound of rotating gears.

“Hey! Whatever you did worked!” Pit seemed to zoom back up the ladder and gave her a thumbs up. She gave one back as Pit went and grabbed one of the remaining cannonballs. Lucina watched him go back down the hole and eventually watched as a cannonball shot up from below the ground and hit two of the ghosts.

Not only did it kill them, but it also hit the inner workings of the clock tower, completely decimating the gears in question. Lucina covered her eyes as they exploded into a pile of black dust. She only uncovered them once everything calmed down.

She heard Pit climb the ladder rather quickly, “Ah! What happened? I didn’t think that was apart of the memo! Er- sorry Lucina!”

Lucina shook her head and kept looking for what to do next, “It’s okay! There’s one more ghost left!” She scratched her head and looked at the floor Pit was standing on again, “Hey! Look! There’s a different ladder going downwards!”

Lucina pointed once again, to which Pit turned around and found the next step. Without speaking words, Pit grabbed his cannonball (he has a hunch it’ll be needed), and walked over to the ladder. He slid down it to find an identical platform with a new cannon, one that was aiming directly at the vertical wall.

“Lucina?!”

“Yes?!”

Pit preemptively loaded the cannon, “Remember that first wall we rotated to be standing up straight?!”

“Yes! What about it?!”

The angel leaned on the cannon, waiting for a cue, “I found this cannon aiming right at it! Should I go for it?!”

“Yes! We haven’t used that wall yet! It’s probably for that last ghost we can’t reach!”

“Okay!” Pit stopped leaning on the cannon and went to fire it. With the ‘boom’ of the cannon, Pit watched the ammo fly over and rebound off the wall they’ve been waiting to use. It reflected off at an angle of about 45 degrees and flew back into the tower.

He listened closely for the noise of a dying ghost, which is what he got exactly to a tee. Pit took that as a cue to commence his stereotypical victory backflip. 

“Woo hoo! Hey, Lucina! We did it!” He looked back up the ladder

Well, _silence_ was not the expected answer he wanted to get, even for Lucina’s standards.

“Hey!” Still no answer. Pit tried being more direct, “Yo! Lucina! What’s happening up there?!”

Still, dead silence, aside from the noise of Lucina sliding down her own ladder to get back down to ground level. Pit listened as she walked forward a little bit more before stopping completely. Something must have happened if she won’t respond, and Pit guess he’ll just have to find out himself

Climbing back up the ladder to get to his partner, Pit poked his head out above the hole to see Lucina standing completely still. Perplexed at this new information, Pit climbed the rest of the way up and got back to the same floor she was on.

Walking up behind her with his hand outstretched to tap her on the shoulder, he was halfway through asking, “Hey, what’s wrong?” before getting interrupted by a different woman’s voice shouting at them.

“ _Arcthunder!_ "

Lucina dodged, and Pit did too, but not as fast, subsequently getting shocked. It didn’t hit that hard, but that still didn’t change the fact that Pit started shaking like he was shocked by a cartoon taser. Shaking it off like a wet dog, Pit looked at the assailant.

The lady in question had a rather feminine and sleek body, though, you wouldn’t be able to tell underneath that giant hooded cloak of hers. In one hand was a small book, open to a page about halfway through, and in the other was a sword in the shape of a lightning bolt, or maybe even Wario’s mustache-

“Oh! I remember you! Hey, Lucina, isn’t this lady your-”

“ _Mother._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im on a roll hot damn (updates are gonna slow down now with school picking up speed and my other fic also needs attention but i am having fun with this one bois!!!)
> 
> please let me know of any glaring typos as i only have myself to proofread my work
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	4. The Return of a Tactician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wait, I was right? She really is your _mother?!_
> 
> Woah, this is unexpected, to say the least. Uh, hey, you okay?
> 
> (Don't worry, I can save her! Besides, I guess we finally have something in common...)

At first, Pit wanted it to feel like a victory.

Because heck yeah! He remembered another fighter and who they were! That doesn’t happen that often, frankly, however, when he turned away from Robin and towards Lucina, the smile on his face fell right off and his eyes widened as he watched Lucina fall onto her knees and wrap her arms around herself once more.

This time, however, she didn’t keep her eyes on the ground. In the midst of her panicked gasping, she looked back up and stared directly at her mother with tears running down her face. Pit was completely caught off guard. Lucina was fearful of this kind of stuff, Pit understood that but… Lucina was downright _terrified_ of this person specifically. 

The mind-controlled Robin stayed completely emotionless throughout the entire ordeal.

Pit was going to need even more answers about this when they got back, but first, he has to jump between his friend and the new fighter. Pulling out his swords and putting up his Guardian Orbitars, Pit reflected another attack from the brainwashed woman. Putting them back down, Pit stood up to his full height and glared at Robin. 

His face kept the glare even when the cliche portal appeared behind Lucina’s mother. With the woman’s red eyes staring back, she calmly turned around and wandered into it. The portal continued to stay there, even when she became fully engulfed by it.

Rolling his shoulders and readjusting the grip on his weapons, Pit began to walk forward so he could go up the ladder to enter it. He was immediately stopped in his tracks by a vice grip on his arm. Looking back, he saw a hysterical Lucina begging him not to go with everything but words.

Pit quickly understood and smiled to comfort his friend, “Don’t worry, I’ll bring her back safe and sound! You can count on me-” The grip on his arm tightened and stopped him mid-sentence. Confused, he looked closer at what Lucina was conveying.

Lucina frantically shook her head side to side, still unable to make words come out of her mouth. Wait, that wasn’t what she was worried about? Well, what else at this moment could she want to hear that would make her feel-

Pit let out a small ‘oh’ before smiling once again to reassure her, “Don’t worry, I’ll come back in one piece as well.”

Lucina, who was still shaking, proceeded to swallow like she hadn’t chewed her food enough. She very slowly got rid of the death grip on his arm and brought her own arms back down to her sides. Tensing up, Pit released a sigh when she shakily nodded.

Nodding back, Pit turned his head and looked at the still-open portal. Stepping forward, Pit used his wings and flew up to the platform it was on and landed in front of it. Before stepping inside, Pit took one moment to look back at his friend.

Lucina was still sitting on the ground where he last left her. Her arms were back around her waist, and Pit couldn’t help the droop of his eyebrows when he thought he could see her slightly rocking. Inhaling sharply, Pit quickly turned back to the portal and strode in.

This is for Lucina after all, the quicker he does this, the quicker she’ll feel better.

\---

**GO!**

Pit immediately rolled to the side to dodge an Arcfire. Getting back up, Pit kept running so he would be a harder target to hit. Running around Robin in a circle seems to be a good idea, Pit said to himself after narrowly avoiding a swipe from her sword.

Barely dodging one more swipe, Pit lept back and pulled out his bow. He took a few pot shots at Robin as the woman kept dodging his arrows. That’s fine, whatever pushes her father away from him is a good attack plan. It was even better when he hit her with one.

Retaliating, Robin fired another Arcfire that Pit dodged by using his wings to leap up into the air over it. Landing on the ground, the fire was now behind him. He could feel the heat nipping at his ankles, but he didn’t stand around long enough to care. He ran forward directly at Robin.

Swiping his swords in an X-motion, Pit barely scraped the front of his opponent. He had to leap away once more when she took her sword and barely scraped him as well. For the next who-knows-how-long, the two would keep swiping, dodging, shooting, magic using, and maybe even kicking if the fighter felt it was necessary.

The battle would take a turn when Robin tried an Arcthunder attack that Pit was prepared for. Pulling down his Orbitars, Pit watched as the attack bounced off fast enough to catch Robin off guard and hit her hard enough to make her shake from the electricity.

Booyah! Now you see how Pit felt when you did that to him!

Sprinting forward one last time, Pit put his Orbitars down and gripped his swords tight. He leaped the last few feet he needed to run. Letting out a yell, Pit watched Robin figure out what he was doing a second too late as his swords connected with her body. Landing on his feet, Pit put his hands on his knees and tried to get his breath back while Robin flew over the edge.

Considering how tired the angel was, he just took her flying off the edge as a victory in it of itself. They _were_ fighting for a long time. Walking to the ledge to lean over it and look down, Pit was caught totally off guard when a quiet “Elwind!” was yelled and an angry Robin appeared in front of him.

Oh, right, that can be used as a recovery.

Her hand grabbed the front of his tunic and she quickly shouted “Nosferatu!” It didn’t really hurt, but Pit could definitely feel his energy being drained steadily and quickly from his body. Her hand pushed him roughly away. Stumbling backward, Pit’s heart dropped to his stomach when he heard her shout one more attack.

“Thoron!”

Now _that_ was painful as all heck.

And not only was the attack extremely painful by itself, but Pit could also feel every single time he bounced against the ground as he flew away from her. He also felt when his swords bounced who-knows-how-far in the opposite direction of himself. Sliding against the ground the last few feet, Pit barely registered when his right leg and wing started to hang off the edge.

With his main weapons a couple of feet away, Pit didn’t have it in himself to do anything when Robin sauntered over to his position quietly and slowly. Really, the only thing Pit could do was lift his head up momentarily to watch her start to walk. His head fell back down anyways: that cool ground felt really nice against his cheek, after all.

With Robin only a few feet away, Pit closed his eyes and accepted his imminent demise. That is until he watched Robin stop suddenly and jump away, back to her previous spot before Pit was taken down.

The angel was horribly confused, but thankfully the world could answer his question before he passed out. That’s right, the last thing he saw before darkness was a familiar pair of boots step in between him and Robin. He also heard the familiar noise of a sword being unsheathed. 

There was only one person who could do that.

Well, that’s not true, Lucina certainly isn’t the only sword wielder in the roster. Oh well, not the most important detail of the situation right now. Pit still smiled as even as the sound of swords clashing hit his ears. Even as blackness overtook his vision to take him into dreamland.

Lucina can do this. Pit knows she can.

\---

Opening his eyes, Pit was genuinely shocked when he wasn’t sore.

Sitting up, he rolled his shoulders and neck in circles to stretch them and see if he could still feel. Yep, he didn't lose his sense of touch, so he really wasn’t in pain. But he got beat up pretty badly, he should at least be sore. Did he actually end up dying-

“I heard my mom came in while I was away and used some magic on you while you were asleep. Whatever you’re wondering about yourself, that hopefully explains it. Knowing her, she most likely felt bad after the fight and this the first part of her apology.”

Jeez, Lucina! Warn an angel before you start reading his mind!

Shaking off the shock, Pit realized his arm was up in a defensive position and his wings were ruffled. Coughing in embarrassment, Pit looked away and put both his arm and wings down. He looked back at Lucina. The woman seemed to be nervous about something.

Lucina used her left hand to rub her right arm. Yup, she was _extremely_ nervous, and the loud silence was obviously not helping. Pit was going to fill it for her, but got interrupted when she inhaled sharply, “Pit, I’m sor-”

“Lucina, stop.” Nope, not going down this path again.

Lucina’s face filled with an unreadable emotion. She stared at her friend, anxiously waiting for the reason he would respond like that, especially when she was in this kind of state (nervous, anxious, almost like a frightened animal).

Pit’s hands were flat on the bed next to him, like he was going to leap off of it and go 20 feet in the air. He wasn’t really glaring at Lucina, but his face was quite serious, “Lucina, no more apologies, just tell me why. That’s at I want at this point.”

Now Lucina was standing up straight, almost as if she were on guard, “I don’t know if I can! At least, not anymore...” Her defensive stance turned back into her anxious one. She started lightly hugging herself, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

Pit jumped out of his bed and walked over to be directly in front of Lucina, looking directly into her eyes. “Why not?! Please, Lucina, I just want to understand so I can _help_ you. I’m not mad, I’m _worried._ I don’t want you to be in fights like these when you’re not ready. Who knows what could happen!”

Lucina widened her eyes at how forward the angel was. She opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again. She proceeded to repeat those two motions for a little bit, like a fish on land, even letting out a couple of meek noises in disagreement. With a high-pitched groan, Lucina stomped over to the bed Pit was just laying on. She sat herself down, put her hands on her face, and started rubbing it in frustration.

Pit just stood silently, waiting for Lucina to be ready. He doesn’t want to escalate this, that would be mean, he just wants to _know._ Not too many details, but enough to comfort her and make it as painless as possible.

Lucina stopped rubbing her face but kept her hands over her mouth. Pit was not expecting to see pure sadness fill her irises. Finally, she spoke something that caught Pit off guard, “I just don’t want anything to change between us…”

Stab Pit with a fork, why don’t you? He didn’t even think of that. Of _course_ she of all people would be worried that Pit would see her differently after learning whatever caused her to be… _her._ I mean, Pit feels the same way! After everything with the Chaos Kin, Lady aired around the side of caution when it came to Pit and it sort of _drove him nuts._

He wasn’t angry with his Goddess, no way, he knew why she was of so careful with him after everything, but it doesn’t change the fact that he got slightly annoyed when being treated like glass. He totally gets why Lucina would be worried about the same thing, but how is gonna show he won’t do that to her-

Oh… that might work. Pit put his hand to his chin and let out a ‘hmm’ before thinking up and finalizing his idea. He walked back over to his bed.

Lucina jumped when she felt a body flop down next to her. “Here,” said Pit, who was leaning back with his hands behind him on the bed, “I’ll start.”

Before Lucina could ask ‘what the heck’, Pit continued forward, “You know my name is Pit, and you are also aware that I’m an angel, and that I’m related to Pittoo, but one thing you might not know is that I work for a Goddess. Her name is Palutena! I’m sure you’ve met her at some point.”

Lucina has, actually. The woman was- _is_ very nice. She can’t mention that to Pit, however, as he’s still talking.

“She’s just about one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet! She’s kind, beautiful, caring, respectful- usually, her teasing can go a little far-” Lucina snorted at that comment, “-but, other than that, she’s one of the best support systems an angel can have! Even when-”

Pit abruptly cut off. Again, Lucina was going to ask him if he was okay, but he still wasn’t done.

“... Even when you lose your body to the enemy… and that enemy uses it as a mindless puppet to injure and murder countless lives. When that enemy also kidnaps your Lady and uses her in the same way, forcing you to fight her right after you got your _own_ stinkin body back. When you couldn’t trust the skin on your back for so long due to that even when that motherly voice tells you _it doesn’t matter, it’s over now, I won’t let it happen again-_ “ 

Pit’s adoration of his Goddess quickly devolved into a heated rant, ending with him rapidly standing up and clenching his fists at his sides, causing Lucina to jump in shock once again. He still had one more thing to say, whispering it in barely held back sadness, “When you don’t even know if you’ll get her back this time.” When his fists unclenched, he brought one of his arms up to wipe his eyes in not-very hidden embarrassment.

Lucina could only widen her pupils at the sight before her. She had no idea that Pit of all people could go through something like that, something so _horrible._ She finally had a chance to speak, “Gods, Pit, I- I had no idea. No wonder you’re having such a horrible time with these fake-gods. They’re doing the same thing… you deserve way more than a simple explanation of my actions-”

Pit waved his hand in front of her to shut her up as he sat back down. He stopped wiping his eyes and smiled wide, “Hey, I didn’t tell you this as payment for your awful backstory. I just…” Pit looked at the floor, “Didn’t want you to feel like you were alone in this, you know? You don’t deserve that, especially on top of whatever makes you nervous about red eyes and whatnot.”

Lucina pushed her lips together at that statement. Making a decision, Lucina stood up, wiped down the front of herself, and sat back down. Pit let out a squawk of surprise when he felt her drop, but shut up when she began speaking, “Regardless, I did promise you that I would tell you what’s up when we returned, and so I might as well give it to you. It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

Now it was Pit’s turn to push his lips together and shut up. Lucina began, very meticulously choosing how to start and keep going, “My parents… all things considered, aren’t my real parents.”

That was _not_ what Pit was expecting in the slightest.

“That sounds wrong, sorry,” Lucina interjected quickly. Starting again, Lucina inhaled through her nose, “When I was a kid, these undead creatures we called ‘risen’ started appearing everywhere. That’s where my current dilemma comes in: these risen had very blatant glowing red eyes. It’s one of the first things I noticed whenever I faced them."

The gears in Pit’s brain started turning and the final puzzle piece made a resounding ‘click’. Pit was going to tell her, ‘oh, okay, that makes sense, you can stop now’, but to his surprise, she continued with her story.

“My parents we highly respected leaders in the kingdom, and thus expected to take care of it. In return, they were gone more and more. Eventually… one day… the only thing that came back was my father’s sword.”

… Oh.

Lucina inhaled again, this time more sharply, “Nobody was really sure how he was killed, and, on top of that, no one knew what happened to my mother. Continuing the cycle of pain, more and more of my family and close friends perished to those monsters, and to top it all off, it was purely the fault of _Grima._ ”

The angel’s eyes widened momentarily. Seems this ‘Grima’ is basically her Hades.

“Through some investigation, I quickly learned that… my mother was the one who had taken my father down.” Pit’s gasp didn’t deter her from continuing, “It wasn’t really her, though. Turns out, Grima had used her, and had taken her completely over for their own, sick, twisted game, which hopefully explains why seeing her with red eyes was so much worse…”

Pit was conflicted. He was feeling closer to Lucina, for sure, they had a lot more in common than he expected, but it was the _wrong_ kind of in common.

“With time running out, and energy lost from fighting a losing battle, my friends and I and decided the only way to save everyone was to go back in time and stop it from happening.”

Pit thought that was simultaneously amazing and depressing.

“Long story short, we did. Not without its ups and downs, of course, Grima did chase after us to try and stop us, which is an… adventure in it of itself, but… people were alive that used to not be, all the risen were gone and no longer a problem, and me and my friends? We finally had our _familes_ back.” 

Pit couldn’t help the grin that formed on his face when she herself grinned. It went away when Lucina’s did too, however. The swordswoman quickly turned forlorn.

“Unlike my companions, I had almost stupidly thrown it away by returning to my original time, but thanks to my gracious mother, I decided to stay back and live out life with her, my amazing father, and my two adorable siblings. One was just a younger me, but the sentiment is still there...”

Lucina barely articulated the next sentence, “And to think, I nearly killed her because of the mere possibility of something happening.” 

(From all that he heard, Pit decided that would be the only thing he would never ask about)

Just like Lucina, Pit was flabbergasted at the information before him. Everything he heard was awful, and he didn’t know where to start to comfort her. But alas, Lucina had one more thing to say just like he did.

“All of that, along with this entire ‘vaporization of the universe’ is really not helping my psychological state of mind...”

Pit could only tilt his head in gentle curiosity, gently prodding her on. Lucina responded by taking a deep breath and explaining one last thing. It was the story of what happened when everything went down.

\---

_Pure, unadulterated chaos is the only way to describe what is happening._

_Lucina had no idea how they got here. One moment she was showing her father around the mansion with her mom, then, all of a sudden, Roy and Ike come barging in saying all fighters need to report to the main area so they could travel out to this place, then they were face to face with this…_ monster, _which is now trying to murder them all._

_Lucina was, unfortunately, separated from her parents when they planned out who would go with which group. She’s now starting to think she maybe should have argued harder to not be separated. Whatever, the decisions have been made, and she doesn’t feel like going back in time to change them. Right now, her main prerogative is to just find her parents._

_Running around, she momentarily stopped when she saw Link. They may not have been the closest of friends, but Link was nice (and quiet). He was also a good sparring partner, you know, as a sword wielder. She figured it would be good to go up to him and ask what he thought was the deal, especially considering his veteran status in this game, but then it happened._

_About ten feet away, Lucina watched as Link tried fighting off the beams that came his way. He was only able to block about two of them. When the last one hit his shield, the force of the beam caused him to recoil, leaving him wide open. Lucina could only widen her eyes and shout “LINK!” in pure fear as he was engulfed by a different beam. Link was totally decimated, leaving absolutely nothing behind..._

_“Lucina!”_

_She only just registered the fact that her arm was stuck out in front of her, reaching for something. Blinking, she brought it back to herself quickly and looked around to find the voice. Her eyes landed on a small, spherical figure flying towards her._

_Meta Knight: another good acquaintance she made while staying here._

_The small knight landed next to her feet and pulled his cape up around his face in his stereotypical pose, “Are you alright, your highness?”_

_Oh right, she vaguely mentioned her status to him once. He’s never let it go. Lucina appreciates the formality, but right now, it’s not helping. Lucina gulped slightly before she started, “Yes, of course, what about you?”_

_Meta Knight’s stone-cold face got even colder, “I’m afraid to say the opposite. I’m physically okay, obviously, but I haven’t been able to find Kirby anywhere. By any chance have you seen him, even if only for a moment, in this chaos?”_

_Lucina grimaced at his question, “No… I haven’t, I’m sorry, but in that regard, have you seen either of my parents? Robin? Chrom?”_

_Meta Knight’s dejected face looked towards the ball of light that was raining this terror down on them, “No, I haven’t.”_

_Lucina was fearing the worst by this point._

_Meta Knight sensed this, and left one final word for her, “Regardless, I hope we are both successful in our endeavors. Good luck finding them, Lucina.”_

_Lucina griped the hilt of her sword for comfort, “To you as well, fair warrior.”_

_Meta Knight nodded once more as he opened his wings and flew off. He didn’t get very far though. Lucina flinched when Meta Knight, only a few feet away, was engulfed by a laser so fast he didn’t even have time to look at it coming._

_Lucina was on the verge of throwing up. She was going to physically scream. Gods, why does this happen to them?! She felt the beginnings of shock when she slowly turned to look out over the field of remaining fighters._

_Then she saw them._

_There, off in the distance, was her father, giving orders to any ear willing to listen (as if it would help). Further away was her mother, doing the same. Lucina felt a spark of hope as her legs started going faster and faster. However, good things never last for her._

_Her heels dug into the ground to stop herself. She let out a large gasp when she watched her father shout her mother’s name. Robin turned to look at her husband, but then she felt something coming at her and looked back over the cliff._

_Chrom shouted her name one more time while reaching out for her. Lucina could only put her hands over her mouth and let tears flow down her face as she watched her mother open her mouth in shock and get swarmed by light, much like Link and Meta Knight._

_It was numb from that point on. She’d vaguely register her father turning around and looking at her with wide eyes. She vaguely watched as he ran at her. She’d vaguely hear an Italian voice yell her name. She’d vaguely feel herself turn and look at the beam of light heading straight for her to give her the same death as her comrades (and family)._

_But worst of all, she would vaguely use all of her senses to watch her father step between her and the beam and pull her into her arms. With tears still streaming down her face, her autopilot made her put her own arms around him in response as he tightened his hold._

_‘It’s happening again…’ She numbly thought to herself._

_The last thing she heard was a comforting male voice say, “I’m sorry.”_

\---

Pit could only sympathize as Lucina put her arm around her eyes. Taking a shaky deep breath, Lucina used her elbow to keep Pit from seeing what was behind it, “No matter how hard I try, I can never save my family right when they need me, and because of it, I’m left to suffer alone.”

Lucina started to only slightly move her arm, clearly wiping away tears before they could trail down her face. Pit could feel his own start to form from the sight. Cleary, there was a lot to unpack between them. At the very least, he knew where to start.

Pit inhaled sharply and prepared himself for what he was going to do.

Lucina blinked when she felt something soft drape over her back. Looking over, she was shocked when she saw Pit with his wing stretched out over her shoulders, comforting her. The angel was staring at the ground, spaced out. Lucina was unsure where he was going with this.

Blinking in surprise again, Lucina heard Pit start to talk, “I’m going to be honest: I have no idea what to say right now. Your life sounded just straight up awful, and I can’t blame you for everything you’re feeling, but… I suppose that if there's anything positive about this?” Pit looked directly into Lucina’s eyes, “It’s that our families will do anything to make sure we're safe. _Anything…_ ”

Pit looked back at the ground with his own forlorn, upset face. Now it was Lucina’s turn to tilt her head as Pit turned back around with a sad smile and explained the awful scenarios that he had been put through, much like herself.

\---

_“WHAT IS HAPPENING- AH!”_

_Pit barely rolled out of the way of a beam. While on his knees, he watched it change its directory to someone else. Pit only had time to reach his hand out towards Little Mac as the light hit the boxer. Gods, he was just a_ human… __

__“We’ll win this, I know we will!” __

_He felt like an idiot right about now._

_Lost in his own grief, he only came back to reality when he heard an angry voice yell, “Idiot! MOVE!” and felt a body slam into him. Rolling away a couple more feet, Pit looked behind the body that tackled him to see a beam in the same spot he was sitting in only moments ago._

_Is it really going to end this way? After everything?_

_The body over him coughed and stood up. Pit blinked and realized who it was. Letting out an ‘oh’, the light angel stood up and looked at Pittoo, who was giving him a glare like something fierce._

_Dark Pit started first, “What in the world were you doing?! Don’t just lay around like an idiot! Keep moving!-”_

_Pit’s feathers were ruffled, “Well excuse me, Mr. Black Heart! I just watched a person_ die, _cut me some slack!-”_

_“You’ve seen that before with Palutena and still kept fighting! Don’t just give up now!-”_

_“Oh, maybe it’s because, and here’s a crazy thought: these are my friends! Of course I’m going to be more messed up because of it!-”_

_“Boys.”_

_That shut them up. They both looked over at the feminine voice to see Palutena swiftly walking towards them. Staff in hand, her dress blew in the wind like it always did. Neither angel wanted to talk: both were waiting for her orders. She seemed as calm as ever (how she can be that right now, well, they will never be able to answer that question)._

_Palutena scanned over both of them with both sadness and pride. Even in the middle of this utter craziness, they were ready to listen to her no matter what. She laid out the plans to them, “I’ll give you guys your wings. Leave as fast as possible and don’t look back. If you go quickly, you should be able to get away-”_

_“What, no way!”_

_“That’s insane! What do you take us for?!”_

_She might take back that ‘ready to listen’ comment, “I know it’s upsetting, but for right now, we mainly need survivors for the cleanup later. With your wings, you have a better chance than most here. Please, I’ll be fine, I promise, but you two just need to be safe-”_

_“NO!” Pit had stepped forward a little bit and was waving his fist in irritation._

_Palutena practically jumped at her soldier’s ferocity. It was a once in a lifetime event: Pit was genuinely angry at Palutena, and the angel still wasn’t done, “I said no! It’s my job to protect you, and I know you hate it when I don’t do my job!” Palutena was shocked into silence at her angel’s outburst, but she took it in stride. Smiling for a brief moment, her face quickly went from motherly comfort to ‘I’m your Goddess and you will listen’._

_“Sorry, but this isn’t an order, it’s a command._ Leave. _Both of you.”_

_Pit could only make noises of disbelief along with his brother as their wings made them start to take off. Pit looked back at Palutena with fear in his eyes as he flew further and further away. The angel could only barely see the contained sadness in his Goddess’ face._

_“Are you crazy?! Let us help you-”_

_“PALUTENA!”_

_Both angels were turned around 180 degrees when they started shouting, even though both of them knew it was pointless. Even as they were forcefully flown away, they still kept their heads looking back at the Goddess._

_She was now in the air as high as they were, staring down the enemy. Both angels gasped when they saw a light coming from the front side of her. Both were internally screaming ‘Move! Get away! What are you doing?!’ yet she didn’t falter._

_She put up a shield. Pit had a sliver of hope it would work._

_It didn’t._

_Down went their Goddess, and away went their flying. With shrieks near identical, Pit and Pittoo flapped their arms as they started falling from a great height. They were too panicked about falling and what happened to Palutena to realize they had their own beams on them._

_(Even if they noticed, it wasn’t like they could do anything, not if_ Palutena _couldn’t)_

_Still falling to his doom, Pit felt wetness streak down his face right before extreme heat took over all of his body._

\---

Unlike Lucina, Pit felt his tears coming and didn’t try to stop them. With tear tracks formed, he tried wiping them away when he felt an arm circle around his shoulders. He was even more caught off guard when Lucina pulled him into her embrace and started rubbing his back.

Pit felt himself gripping her clothes like it was his lifeline.

Lucina could only tense slightly when she felt her shoulder get wet. With the smallest possible motions, Lucina started to rock side to side to comfort Pit, hoping it would work. It’s what she remembers her mother doing with Morgan when he was a small child before Lucina had to go back in time to save the world.

“I’m sorry I misjudged you, Pit,” admitted Lucina, still rocking the small body in her arms, “I thought there was no possible way you could have been affected by this as I have, and for that, I deeply apologize. Clearly, what I thought is not the case.”

Pit leaned out of her embrace to wipe his eyes, “Eh, oh well, I frankly thought you couldn't crack a smile if your life depended on it, so, let’s just say we’re even.”

Seeing Pit’s grin, Lucina couldn’t stop the smile that formed on her face from it. Even after crying his eyes out, the angel did his best to make others feel better. Staring at each other only momentarily, Pit leaned back into her quickly, and she responded by putting her arms back around him just as fast. 

After taking in the moment, Lucina pushed Pit away, but kept her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes, getting serious, “I swear to you on my sword that I will work my hardest to bring back the last member of your family, just as you are doing for mine.”

Pit blinked away some of the leftover tears in his eyes. His feathers fluffed a bit, and his chest got warm and fuzzy. He was extremely moved by her words. Of course, he still won’t respond seriously, “God, with how much you value that sword, it might just be your first child. I feel like a scratch on that thing would cause you to think the world has ended.”

Lucina took a moment to process what Pit said, before gasping and smacking him. Pit vaguely heard “You heathen!” as he guarded his face with his arms. He could tell she was smiling and found him funny despite it.

Both were giggling like small children, but what broke the dam was Pit falling over and grabbing Lucina’s clothes to yank her down with him. They proceeded to fall over onto their sides, followed by them rolling onto their backs as the giggling turned into ferocious laughter for the next minute or so.

After they simmered down a bit, they felt tears on their cheeks from all the joy they had expressed. It was silent, both staring at the ceiling and basking in the few moments of calmness they had finally got.

Pit grinned and quietly went, “Man, we’re really messed up, aren’t we?”

Lucina blinked, slightly surprised Pit would be the one to say something like that. She sighed and smiled anyway, “Yeah, I guess we are.”

Both fell asleep shortly afterward.

This time when Pit opened his eyes, he felt… rested, maybe even safe. Man, he never thought he’d feel this way again after all this crap. Grinning, he turned his head to look at and thank the person responsible for-

She wasn’t there.

Alright, now it was time to panic. Sitting up quickly, the angel looked around and saw one of the newcomers in his room, sorting things. What was her name again-

“Oh, you’re awake! I’m so glad to see you’re okay!” She said as the bell in her hair (is that hair?) jingled. She was extremely tiny and short, to which Pit also noticed that she was standing on a stool because of it. Oh, and she had a vest on.

“I know you just woke up, and I’m sorry if you don’t know, but can you tell me where this goes?” She held up what seemed to be some kind of tray full of small orbs. Oh, right, Pit does know where it goes, but still, what was her name?

Getting a better look at her face, Pit finally remembered it: Isabelle (heck yeah, another fighter Pit remembered!) Villager introduced her as their assistant when she came and pretty much everyone was smitten. Especially Pit, because how could he not be! 

However, he did kinda lose that feeling just a little when she launched him into space with that rocket of hers. Not cool, man, it took him hours to clean the ashes out of his wings.

Right, the important question.

“Uh, your name is Isabelle, right?”

Isabelle plopped down and sat on the stool, sighing and giving up what she was trying to put away, looking intently at Pit with her adorable eyes, “Yes?”

Pit tried (and probably failed) to hide the blush that came over his face. Taking a deep breath, Pit asked his question, “Were you here when another lady was as well? Blue, long hair? Big sword?”

Isabelle put her paw on her chin and let out a ‘hmm’ (again, Pit, keep it contained). Isabelle took her paw off and remembered, “Oh, yeah! She left as I came in. She gave me a nice pat on the head and smiled before she walked out. I think she went to go see someone...”

Pit jumped up and shook her tiny hand, “Oh thank you so much! I gotta go!” Pit then left and ran out the door. Isabelle blinked her eyes in semi-shock before blinking again when she heard footsteps turn around and run back to the room she was in.

Pit leaned back into the doorway, “By the way- that goes on the upper middle shelf in the left cabinet. Thanks again!” Pit’s thumbs-up was the last thing Isabelle saw before he completely disappeared.

She waved goodbye even though he wouldn’t see her. She turned back to her job and went to where Pit pointed out. Aha! Bingo, exactly where he said. Hopefully, she’ll be able to see him again, after all, she wants to thank him for his help.

Back with the angel, Pit’s first stop was the ‘hang-out area’. Chairs and other seats were set up in a specific room in case anyone needed to just stop for a moment and take a break, or maybe if they needed to catch up with a friend after, well…

Popping in the doorway panting, Pit let out a big sigh of relief when the first thing he saw was Lucina sitting at one of the makeshift couches. She seemed to still be a little exhausted, not surprising after everything, but she definitely was more relaxed and joyful.

Next to her was Robin, who had a few bandages and bruises here and there. Both ladies were laughing and smiling at whatever conversation topic they were talking about. All things considered, this might just be the most relaxed Lucina has ever been. The sight also made Pit happy, giving him a small grin.

He would’ve mentioned he was there, but after he saw Robin wipe Lucina’s cheek and keep her motherly hand there, he figured they needed the entire room to be alone. Leaving the doorway smiling, Pit decided to head back to his room to get more shut-eye.

Right as he got outside the door to the room with his bed, he heard two familiar voices.

“Seriously? He was _just_ here?”

“Yep! He helped me find where to put a tray away! I don’t know where he went though…”

The male voice sighed, “Dangit Pit-face…”

This was Pit’s cue, “Hey, Pittoo, you needed to see me?”

The dark angel in question turned around at the voice. Isabelle looked as well. She was now off the stool, further showing off just how short she was. She smiled wide and bounded over to Pit to hug the angel’s leg, “Thank you! I never would’ve found where to put that stuff if you didn’t tell me!”

Even Dark Pit was trying not to be blatantly smitten. Pit grinned mischievously at him, even though the light angel was smitten too. Metaphorically shaking off the cuteness, Pit leaned over and patted Isabelle on the head like she said she liked, “No problem, Isabelle.”

She looked up into his face with the biggest, most adorable grin before bounding out of the room waving goodbye. Both angels returned the wave while she left them to their conversation. Pit was waiting for Pittoo to start it up, but the brother just stood there with his arms crossed.

Confused, Pit waited as Pittoo motioned for his brother to sit down on the bed, to which Pit complied. This was exactly what Dark Pit was waiting for and now was able to get all the thoughts and words he had on his head for the past couple hours. Pittoo strutted over until he was only a few inches in front of Pit.

Pit jumped in shock at the rapid advancement into his personal space. Dark Pit was very much glaring at his other half, which obviously meant that the conversation that was about to ensue was not going to be in Pit’s favor.

The dark angel let it go, “I thought I told you to be careful, idiot! Do you how everyone reacted when they saw the others carrying your body from the castle?!”

Pit chuckled nervously, and almost came up with a funny remark, however, he was interrupted and stayed silent as Dark Pit very abruptly sat down next to him, stretched his wing around the light angel’s back, and leaned into him.

Completely speechless, Pit was left to grin at the situation and say nothing. Why would he need to? Pittoo is getting every little bit of comfort he needed from this moment right here. It would last for a minute or so with nothing but silence, before Dark Pit jumped away, somewhat ashamed.

Pittoo cleared his throat, “Gotta check those vitals somehow. Hopefully, we can spar at some point. Teach you a lesson on how to properly handle big attacks like Robin’s.”

Pit knew he was deflecting but didn’t mention it, “Okay, that sounds good.” 

Pit had to tilt his head to look up to Pittoo, but his grin was as genuine as ever. Dark Pit took once glance at his brother before swiftly leaving the room. Pit could almost see a blush on the mirror-angel’s face.

Pit sat looking at the doorway for a little bit, before dramatically falling over to lay on his back on his nice, soft bed. He thought about his current situation. While it’s not perfect yet, his situation has certainly taken a more positive spin compared to what it had at the start.

Frankly, that’s all Pit could ask for at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this uh,,, took longer than a month... sorry about that! i just needed to focus on my other fic and get it resolved before i got back to this one. this one is going to be a heck of a lot longer (each chap has been like 10 pages in docs at the least- heck, this one was 17), which mainly means this is what ill be putting 99% of my time on until it is done (unless i can come up with some easy one-shots for other things on the side)
> 
> also i know pittoo listens to palutena a little too easily in pits flashback, but I figured with his life on the line and him panicking (he was, he wouldnt say it out loud though), he was more content listening to her considering she would probably know how to keep him alive
> 
> if you notice any typo that throws off your reading, feel free to tell me as i beta my own work!  
> i accept criticism as long as it is given in a respectful manner!
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	5. Lord of the Shepherds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Back to the good old scouting and fighting brainwashed friends gig! Where's our next place?
> 
> Wow, this area is... big. Granted, the Castlevania place wasn't that small either.
> 
> (With so much space to get through, maybe we'll find some familiar faces!)

“Oh! You two, do you want to hear about the time she decided using a jar of-”

“Mother! I thought I told you to never speak of that again!”

Pit’s morning has been going great so far.

It started when he woke up and decided to come out and get breakfast. The food wasn’t the best, but, all things considered, it could be worst. While he was waiting in line, two familiar people appeared behind him to wait as well.

“Pit!”

Pit turned around, “Ah, Lucina! Ooh, and Robin! Hi!”

The ladies stopped walking and stood next to Pit. Robin was the first to talk, “It’s good to see you again, Pit, especially when we’re not fighting… Pit, I’m sorry about-”

Pit waved her off. After what he learned about her, it’s not surprising that she’d have a crushing sense of guilt, “Don’t worry about it! Everyone here has attacked someone because of this mess, and that includes me! You’re certainly not the first. Hey, you guys wanna sit together in Section B5?”

That’s where they went to eat, and that’s where they currently are, just talking away the minutes before they have to get shoved back outside into hell. Robin was doing her motherly best to embarrass Lucina, and Pit couldn’t help but laugh along.

It was made infinitely better when Pittoo poked his head in and decided to join them. His excuse was that he had nowhere else to go and might as well stay here but Pit felt there was more to it than that. He still didn’t question Pittoo about it. Didn’t want to chase him off.

Now they were here, laughing at Lucina’s misfortune.

Dark Pit had a mischievous grin, “Oh do tell, Robin: what happened with this mysterious jar?”

Robin giggled, “Well, between you and me, let’s just say, it took a lot more than half a day and Miriel’s magic to get Lucina unstuck.”

Pit burst out laughing while Lucina’s face got redder behind her hands.

Pit wouldn’t trade this for just about anything. This morning has been so amazing-

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway.

The group of friends/acquaintances turned and looked at none other than Fox McCloud.

“Forgive me for breaking up family time, but the list of jobs have been handed out and I’ve been assigned to inform your four.”

The group looked around at each other before Robin spoke in her tactical voice, “It’s alright, Mr. McCloud. What have you planned for us?”

Fox held up the clipboard that was in his hands, “Okay: Dark Pit, you’re off with Falco and Yoshi to count our stock in the back. If you manage to finish before three, you can meet up with Mewtwo and King Dedede to help out with their scouting if you’re up for it.”

Dark Pit’s apathetic face stayed apathetic, “Yeah okay,” he stood up, looked back at Pit, and pointed at him, “You: don’t do anything stupid.” The dark angel was out of the room, leaving behind a squawking Pit. Lucina and Robin had to hide their snickers.

Letting Dark Pit leave the room, Fox went back to his list, “Robin, you’re joining Mr. G and W along with Pacman in the medical wing. We feel your magic would be most beneficial there.”

There was a hint on uncertainty on the woman’s face, “Okay…”

Fox raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, “Pit and Lucina, it was decided, with great difficulty, that you two will immediately go back to scouting.”

Pit and Lucina, along with Robin, stood up rapidly and semi-shouted, “What?!”

Fox sighed, “I had the same reaction. No one likes exactly how much you two have nearly crossed that line between life and death, but the fact remains that you two together have saved multiple people a lot quicker than anyone else here.”

The group of three were left astonished. 

Robin suddenly interrupted, “Then let me scout with them. You’ve been sending people in groups of three, right? Let me come too. I make some potions for my assigned job then head out with them. Everyone wins, right?”

Pit and Lucina watched as the tactician got slightly more frantic by the time she was done speaking. If this were normal circumstances, they wouldn’t have noticed, however, it’s been established that this isn’t normal circumstances.

Taking a deep breath, Lucina walked over to her mother, “I know it sounds scary, but they chose us for a reason. Besides, as long as Pit is with me, or I’m with Pit, we will come back alive. It’s how we’ve come back before, after all. We keep each other strong.” Lucina looked back at Pit with fondness in her eyes, then looked back at her mother.

Pit’s chest got warm and fuzzy again. It was made even warmer when he saw what Robin did as a response.

Flitting her eyes around the room to try and decide what to do, Robin made up her reluctant mind. Lucina was pulled into Robin’s tight embrace, and the younger woman gladly returned the hug. After a few moments of sweet bliss, Robin let go of her daughter, but kept her at arm’s length with her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, practically whispering, “Promise me the two of you will be safe, you even more so.”

Lucina took one of her hands and placed it on one of her mother’s and smiled, “I promise.”

It wasn’t great, but it was good enough for Robin, who let go and mostly took away her protective stance. Smiling one more time at her daughter, Robin slowly left them behind and went with Fox so he could lead her to where Mr. Game and Watch and Pacman are. 

Lucina watched her mom leave the room, then turned around and looked at Pit. She gripped the hilt of her sword with the hand on the opposite side of her body, “Ready to go exploring one more time, Pit?” Her smile was light as air.

Pit let out his biggest grin yet, “You better believe it!”

\---

The path they were sent down was desolate.

The place that was created for this part of the world was a seemingly abandoned city, and it was abandoned for good reasons. The skyscrapers and buildings were ripped to shreds, crumbled into piles of ashes and broken cement. Other things stuck up out of the ground too, but they just looked like black sticks. 

They walked next to the mess that was the makeshift city on what they called a “straight path”. To get where they needed to go involved no turning left or right off of it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t squiggly as all hell. Not only that, it was bumpy and cracked, some pieces of the road even sticking up above the ground they had to walk around.

At some point, Pit and Lucina came past a group of fighters led by Meta Knight (glad to see he’s been found). They were going to walk past them, but when they saw Meta Knight fly through the air, that’s when they pulled out their weapons.

The group of fighters was fighting a Crazy Hand!

Lucina called out, worriedly, “Do any of you need help?!”

Meta Knight barely regained his balance and hovered, but looked at Lucina when Meta Knight heard her, “No! We’ll be fine! You keep doing your job!”

Pit watched as Lucina struggled. She made a variety of emotions appear on her face, and moved her sword back and forth between positions that said ‘no, I’m helping you dammit’ and ‘alright fine, you can handle this’.

In the end, the latter emotion won out as Lucina sheathed her sword. Pit reluctantly put away his blades as well. Wasting no extra time, the two sprinted away back down their path. After getting about 100 feet away, they slowed back down and walked the rest of the way there.

As they continued down the path, it changed from a city road to a rocky hiking trail. The apocalyptic city became something akin to a volcanic mountainside with all the lava that heated up that part of the pathway. They also fought all the spirits that came their way. They were pretty easy for the most part.

Finally, getting to the end and passing the toll booth (that was located there, for some reason) they both stopped dead in their tracks when the trail turned blue and the last little part was made up of pure ice. Lucina was concerned they would have to turn back, but Pit tugged her sleave so she would look at what he was seeing.

Right in the middle of the ice was a small hole/portal. Oh, so that must be where they need to go.

They started to walk to it, but someone jumped in between them and it. Or, well, make that some _thing._ Lucina and Pit re-pulled out their weapons as they faced down against one of their brainwashed comrades. It was obvious who it was, with the wrestling stance, bright red coloring, and even the whiskers on his face.

Incineroar was there, and he wanted to do more than just play fight.

They did the same old song and dance: they followed each other into a portal, fought on a stage that made sense to the fighter, kicked its ass, then sent it back to go and get the rest it very much deserved. The only problem was how it started out kicking _their_ asses. If it didn’t mess up its recovery and kill itself early on, chances are, the fight would’ve drained Lucina and Pit a lot more than it actually did.

From there, they finally were able to get to the entrance that led to the area they wanted to find. They took a deep breath and dove right in. When they got to the other side, they both let out gasps of wonder at the land they were looking at.

It had a wide variety of biomes: one included a marshy forest of some kind, another looked like your typical grassland with hills and some kind of village, and the last one… was covered in giant, thunder storming clouds. Well, one thing’s for certain, all three of them together seemed to form a giant triangle, with each biome filling up a corner.

As Pit continued to look out around him, Lucina’s eyes trailed over to something else. Now it was her turn to tug on Pit’s clothes like a small child. Pit followed her thinking and line of sight to see something akin to a pillar in the middle of the world. What made it special was the extremely bright light resting at the top of it.

Lucina and Pit only nodded at each other once before getting the message that they needed to head that way. Following a couple of pathways here and there, the two eventually made it to a stairway that would lead to the top of the hill they were so interested in. 

Pit pointed up to the top with giddy enthusiasm, “Ooh! That’s totally important! I wonder what we’ll find up ther-”

Lucina stepped back in shock a little bit when Pit was shoved face first into the ground by a blue spinning ball. Pit stayed there, with his face in the dirt groaning, even after the attacker got off and lept a few feet away.

Lucina stepped and stood next to Pit while the angel just lifted his head to look at his assailant. About halfway up the steps was a familiar blue hedgehog tapping his foot in impatience. The brainwashed hero went as far to even say, “You’re too slow!”

Lucina and Pit groaned all the way through the battle, from entering the portal to taking Sonic’s smug face and shoving down into the blast zone.

Once they sent him off, they finally walked up the stairs to see a giant sword in the ground. They walked forward to go pull it out, but Pit grabbed Lucina and pulled them back to the top of the stairs to avoid yet another attacker.

In between them and the sword stepped Cloud, who was gripping his sword so tight they thought he was going to break the blade off from the handle by sheer force alone.

Whatever, a portal appeared behind Cloud when they pulled their weapons out after just putting them away. Lucina and Pit yelled as they leaped forward and shoved Cloud into the portal along with themselves.

The battle wasn’t as easy as Sonic’s, but it certainly wasn’t as hard as Incineroar’s.

Sending him back to the front with the others, Lucina and Pit finally made it to the sword. The first thing they noticed was the triforce on the ground around it. Ah, so they were in Hyrule, at least, that’s what they think Link called it. Before pulling the sword out of the ground, they looked at each other to make sure that’s what they really wanted to do. Both taking a deep breath, they grabbed it and used all of their strength to yank it out.

Eventually, they did, but after holding it for a few seconds, it shot out of their hands and floated in the air. From there, the sword practically cut the sky in half with the speed it used to fly away.

After the world quaked fiercely and nearly caused Lucina and Pit to fall over onto their butts, they regained their stance and looked out to where the sword flew. Instead of dark, purple, ominous clouds, the north section of this place was made up of a land full of ruin and crumbled buildings.

Which was also still purple.

The two scouters looked back at each other once more before Pit shrugged. Lucina got the message and looked back at the north part of the world. They both started walking towards the new, unexplored land.

Might as well go check it out after a reaction like that.

\---

For right now, they decided to mindlessly walk around this upper area.

They had no idea what to expect, so what better way to learn than to explore? 

Pit was still walking when Lucina stopped. He got a few feet away before realizing she did. He turned around and looked at her, then looked at what she was seeing. A dozen or so feet away was a statue shaped like an owl sitting on a pillar. Huh, it looks somewhat out of place, which is probably intentional. Pit and Lucina started walking toward it at the same time and even jumped back at the same time when a drill hit the ground in front of them.

Getting out their respective swords, they were met by Bowser Jr. Wow, he actually looks menacing for once, that’s impressive. A portal appeared behind him, to which he maniacally cackled as he jumped backwards into it.

Pit and Lucina leaped after him. The fight was… special. Oh, it was pretty easy, but Lucina couldn’t help the laughter that came out from her mouth after Pit got trapped in Bowser Jr’s drills for the fifth time. She knows she should take it seriously, but goddamn, Pit could not catch a break whatsoever.

Once they sent him off, they went back to the objective at hand: figure out what that statue is and what it entails. Both were right next to it, but unsure of what would happen if they did anything like touch it, or maybe even hit it? Eh…

Pit watched as Lucina bit the bullet and put her hand on its face. Before Pit could ask what in the world are you doing, the statue spoke, causing both fighters to leap back in shock.

_4:40_

Oh… they’re riddles of some sort. That explains a lot. Okay, remember 4:40, remember 4:40…

Lucina tapped on Pit’s shoulder. Breaking out of his thought train, the angel turned around to look at what Lucina wanted him to. Pit took no time at all to fill his face with disdain.

They’re next objective: climb that huge ass, rickety wall that probably won’t even support one of them.

They both heard each other let out huge sighs. As unpleasant as it will be, there’s no better time to do something than the present, as they always say… or something...

\---

By the time they reached the top, they were both breathing heavily. It was already difficult enough with walking around everywhere, fighting multiple people, but now they had to climb a bunch of ladders? Oi vey...

Regardless, the top of the world was pretty flat and made out of wood boards, nothing special or interesting. Pit started to walk forward to the center. Lucina followed. Standing there, Lucina heard an incoming attack.

Lucina yelled “look out!” before tackling Pit out of the way of a giant sword. Standing back up really quickly, Pit got his weapons ready once again as he looked at the attacker. Placed way above the world was none other than Ganondorf himself.

He was bigger than Pit imagined, and that made him gulp. His nervousness went away when he heard Lucina unsheath Falchion. Right, they have a job to do, and the portal that appeared next to him further proved that fact

The fight was a lot like Incineroar’s: kinda difficult but didn’t matter when the guy killed himself.

Informing Ganondorf of the situation, they sent him down the ladders to go back to the base. When they scoped out the land once more (and they thought the entrance was the tallest place here), the world began to shake like it did when the sword broke the clouds up.

However, this time it wasn’t so bad. It only made them lean side to side, really, plus, what changed was minor. Both the angel and sword wielder looked back out to the direct center of the world, which was a little north of the hill where the sword was. A new bright light was there in the shape of a triangle. Its color was also bright yellow.

They looked back at each other and shrugged. That triangle was probably important, but they didn’t have time to check it out. Next stop: that village looking area they saw when they walked in.

\---

While walking to get to the area, they passed by another Owl Statue. Taking no time at all, Pit strutted forward and tapped it on the beak. Immediately, its eyes glowed and it spoke its riddle.

_The forest treasure is the path to the branded swordsman_

Pit noticed Lucina momentarily widen her eyes, but it was done so quickly he brushed it off as just surprise. Not only did it speak words, unlike last time, but they themselves also had quite the itinerary to get through, they gotta focus on that first, as previously stated many times.

\---

Finally, they were at the village!

In the middle of the area were two giant circles, with the edges of them being dotted by unlit torches every few feet. Pit walked up to a torch and waved his hand over it, then quickly clutched it to his chest when it caught on fire.

While Pit was trying to cool his hand off, Lucina got closer to the circles and noticed something quite important about them. Once his hand was no longer in pain, Pit saw it too.

They looked like a giant clock... actually, they made _up_ a giant clock. No doubt 4:40 had to come into play here.

That brought up the question though: which circle was for which time?

That argument lasted longer than needed.

“Pit, please! Clock hands have always been the same! Big arms for the minutes, and small arms for the hour! Why would this be any different?”

“I’m just saying, when things are signaled to be more important, they’re always made to be bigger! Hours are typically the thing people ask about, making them more important, so why wouldn’t they be the outer circle?”

Lucina relented and let Pit try his way first. When it didn’t work, Pit sheepishly grinned and put his hand behind his head. Rolling her eyes, Lucina went and fixed his mistake, making the flames the way they’re _supposed_ to be.

Still, nothing happened. Pit was going to tell her off since her idea didn’t turn out to be any better, but she just walked passed him. Pit squawked, but Lucina paid no attention. Another torch caught her attention from afar. She got to it and lit it, then immediately jumped back a couple of feet when someone slammed the ground in front of her.

Pit ran up to help her. With his swords out at his hands, he too let out a rather confused “huh?” along with her when they saw the fighter. It was a normal human… wearing a headband with his own face on it?

Even when the portal opened, even when they beat him, even when they sent him away, they still couldn’t wrap their head around why he dressed that way. Out of all the fighters possible, it was a guy wearing his own face?...

Whatever, in their mindless confusion, Lucina and Pit eventually found another statue that told them another time. 

_12:10_

They got back to the clock riddle, plugged in the numbers, and fought the spirit that appeared in the very center. Once they beat it, a pile of rocks near the torch that revealed the brawler they just fought fell apart, making another path.

In it was another spirit that was a little harder, but they still ended up taking it down. Right before they could put their weapons away, they both heard feminine steps walks towards them. Yep, after all this time, they _finally_ get to see the one and only Princess Zelda.

She was calm and serene, which put both Pit and Lucina on high alert. The silent but deadly ones were always a challenge. The portal appeared, and the battle began.

\---

Zelda was hands down the hardest one they’ve fought so far.

They didn’t even have the relief of her killing herself like the other hard ones, her recovery was way too good. It was pure luck when they caught her off guard. Zelda reflected one of Pit’s arrows, which allowed Lucina to come up behind her and slash her upwards into the sky.

After the fight, they stuck around a little longer than usual so Lucina could talk with Zelda. The princess seemed somewhat panicky, and frankly, neither of them blamed her. Lucina was eventually able to tell her about who was okay and who they still needed to find.

Zelda seemed a lot more confident as they said goodbye to her. Once she was gone, the world rumbled like it did when they beat Ganondorf. They couldn’t see it, but they could safely assume another triangle had appeared next to the first one.

So, that’s two out of three parts of this world finished, time for the last one. The two walked towards the area, and both of them stopped for a second once they got close to it. Right, the last area was a big forest. One with twists and turns and no discernable end in sight. Oh, and it was covered in fog.

Pit groaned, then spoke in heavy sarcasm, “Yay! More foggy mazes! Cuz that went so well _last time!_ ”

Lucina snickered. 

\---

Getting into the forest, they were immediately met by a familiar Owl Statue. Pit was the first to smack it and see what it had to say.

_East, south, and then continue south. The invisible path calls for you_

Directions, those were easy enough. Looking once at each other, Pit and Lucina started walking along the trails in the directions the statue told them. It was going well, they even made jokes between themselves as they walked, but once they got to the end, that’s when the problem showed itself.

There was no more pathway, so if they wanted to keep going south, that would be a wee bit difficult. Pit tilted his head in confusion, trying to see around the riddle, before making a connection about what needed to happen. Just because you can’t _see_ a pathway, doesn’t mean you can’t _make_ one yourself.

Lucina watched as Pit walked forward with determination and disappeared behind a bunch of thick bushes. Before she could ask if he was okay, she watched as a hand shoot out, waiting for her to grab it. When the hand beckoned her to be quicker, she finally grabbed it. She yelped as it tugged her forward into the bushes.

She closed her eyes to prevent anything from getting in them. Once the hand stopped pulling, she opened them again to see she was on a new pathway. Letting out an “ooooooohh”, she watched as Pit nodded and started walking down the new path.

She followed, and once they got to the end, an Owl Statue fizzled into existence. Wasting no time, Lucina tapped its face and listened as it spoke its next riddle with glowing eyes.

_North, west, north, and then continue north. Dive in with courage_

Alright, pretty straight forward. They followed the new paths to end up standing directly in front of a lake. Lucina was looking down at it when she stated, “‘Dive in with courage’... Well, I think the next step is pretty clear.”

Pit was planning on nodding, but instead decided to squawk in fear and wave his arms up in front of him in a motion that said ‘hold on a minute!’ “W-w-w-wait! I don’t know how to swim!”

Lucina somewhat rolled her eyes. She put her hand on his back and shoved. As he fell in, he let out a hearty shriek. Soon after, Lucina took a huge breath and jumped in. Once she was under, she grabbed Pit under the armpits and started swimming in the direction she felt she needed to go. After a little bit of swimming, she found a different pond to swim up out of. 

Getting out in a completely new area, Lucina and Pit heard a sword become unsheathed. They both looked away from the lake to see a blonde kid with a green hat that almost looked like one of those hats people wear with their nightgowns or other nighttime clothes.

Oh, right, how many Links were there again? Well, however many there are, they found the last one at least. Pit and Lucina also unsheathed their swords as the portal appeared next to them. They were forming quite the pattern today. They probably could do this in their sleep at this point if they really felt like it.

\---

Climbing out of the original pond dripping wet, Pit waved goodbye to Young Link while Lucina observed the area to see if anything changed. Once the kid left both Pit’s and Lucina’s vision, the world started to violently rumble. In fact, this time, it was so bad they _did_ fall over onto their bottoms. They stood up and soothed the soreness.

Lucina was looking vaguely in the direction that led to the center of the world, “Sounds like something big happened. I think it came from the middle of this place. We should go find out what it is.”

Pit nodded his head. He started walking with her, but then he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him bounce up and down like a 5-year-old, “Ooh! Ooh! Wait! Look, a chest! Over there! On the other side of this lake!”

Lucina looked where Pit was pointing and saw it too, “Oh, good catch Pit.”

The two walked around the pond they just went swimming in to get to the treasure. Once they got to it, Pit kneeled down so he could do the honors of opening it. Lucina watched over his shoulder as the chest opened, expecting the thing to blind her with its ridiculously bright light that always happens.

It didn’t. In fact, nothing else happened either except for the lid opening. It was empty. 

Pit let out what was probably the largest groan of his life as Lucina just let her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Both stood up, and Pit even brushed off his clothes. They turned around to start walking to the center. That was stupid. This is stupid. Why have a chest that does absolutely nothing-

Lucina rapidly turned back towards Pit when she heard him shriek. Instead of a panicking angel, she got empty air. She was about to call out his name, but when a white feather shot up out of the empty chest, the only thing Lucina could do was walk up and inspect the seemingly empty container.

Kneeling herself, Lucina peered into the darkness. After a few brief moments, she too let out a shriek when the chest actually sucked her in. Falling for what felt like an eternity, Lucina eventually popped out of an… open chest?

Well, it wasn’t the same one she got sucked into since the first thing she noticed when she landed on her butt and regained clarity to look at her surroundings was the fact that the lake was gone, and also how she was surrounded by even _more_ trees.

“Hey, hey Lucina! Are you okay? I tried to walk away from that chest, but then some kind of force literally pulled me through it! Now we’re here, but I’m not sure what ‘here’ is...”

Blinking, Lucina finally noticed the angel that was next to her. Lucina cleared her throat, “Yes, Pit, I’m okay. What about you? You seem frazzled.”

Pit helped Lucina to stand, “Well, a little bit yeah, but that’s not because of the location, but because of what I saw! I could’ve sworn I saw something in the trees! The trees!”

Lucina smiled at Pit’s antics, putting her hands on his shoulders to calm him down, “Okay, okay! Pit, can you explain a little bit more on what you saw?”

Pit put his hand on his chin and thought deeply, “Well… I think it was just a normal guy. His clothes were kind of weird, and he also had a sword like… hey! There he is!”

Lucina turned and looked at where he was pointing. The only thing she could do in response was gasp in a mixture of shock and fear, along with widening her eyes. Stepping out from the bushes was none other than her _father._

Lucina gulped at his emotionless face. Those res eyes somehow looked worse on him than they did her mother...

Pit was a little scared too (Chrom was pretty bulky), but then he saw Lucina’s fear, “H-hey, Lucina who is… wait, is he your _father?!_ Wow, you two look… so much alike. I can’t believe I didn’t see it right away...”

Lucina, with wide eyes, still focused on her father, whispered quietly, “‘The forest treasure is the path to the branded swordsman’...”

Pit was mouthing the same thing in confusion, before making the realization, “Oh! That’s what that statue meant! I still can’t believe it. Lucina, we found him!”

Lucina could only stand silently. The smile on Pit’s face went away with a gulp. The angel could feel the sweat falling down his back. When the cliche portal opened up behind Chrom, both non-brainwashed fighters inhaled sharply.

Pit pulled out his swords and started to walk, “Alright, let’s do this Lucina-”

Lucina grabbed the back of his clothes, “Wait! Let me do this, Pit!”

Pit stopped in his tracks, both in shock and because Lucina wasn’t letting him move forward, “Wait, by yourself?”

Lucina’s face had a hint of fear, but other than that, she was completely serious, “Please, Pit, Chrom is my father. I need to do this alone.”

Pit’s eyes were wide at Lucina. She was even more determined than usual, and that’s impressive considering who she is. His eyes went back to normal, “Yeah, okay.”

Now Lucina’s eyes went wide as she let go of his clothes, “Wait, you’re going to let me go by myself?”

Pit shrugged, “Well, I mean, I’m not entirely sure about this, but I do know how much this means to you, and I also know that I trust you. I trust you with my life.” Pit smiled when he spoke the last sentence.

Lucina was deeply moved. She nodded her head and looked back at her father, who was now walking into the portal, “Thank you, Pit. I’ll be sure to not let you down.” She pulled out her sword and looked at the portal.

Taking a deep breath, Lucina ran into it.

It’s now or never.

\---

The sound of swords clanging made a metallic clash reverberate throughout the field.

Faces only a couple of inches away from one another, Lucina glared directly into the emotionless eyes of her father. She was doing well to mask her true fear, only gulping a little bit in the face of danger. This fight had been going for a long time, and both were tired, Lucina even more so after everything that had occurred before.

She quickly blinked away from his eyes, though. She didn’t want to repeat what happened with either Dark Pit or her mother. Looking to the side, Lucina pushed forward and managed to break Chrom’s block, but the man leaped away from her next attack anyway. She looked back at her father. Good, he’s pretty far away.

Not for long, was the thought that hit her when she saw him start to run. Crap, was the next one when she lifted her sword to block his attack for the umpteenth time now. Instead of his face, she looked at his boots and legs. His horrible, mismatched legs…

Uuuughh, shoving him away once again, she charged forward and put herself on the offensive with him on the defensive. This is no way to fight! It’s incredibly dangerous and not to mention stupid, who knows what she’ll miss if she’s too busy counting the brick tiles at their feet!

But… those eyes, she can feel it, another breakdown if she looks at them again, however, at the same time, she was fine! She had to be! Perfectly fine! That’s what she told Pit so has to be true! It _has_ to be...

When he ran at her again and they clashed weapons, she said screw it. She took a deep breath, went against her better judgment, pulled her face away from the ground and looked at the eyes directly. As always, that was her first mistake, thinking she could handle things.

The soulless and red gleam in the orbs made her flashback to her world. The one where there was no hope. The one with no parents. The one where thousands of people died every day, and the sole reason being her incompetence. The one she fled from _like a coward-_

Getting swiped right on the chest, Lucina howled out in pain and fell over, rolling a few feet away before stopping. She managed to sit up on her knees before she heard the sound of footsteps getting closer. Feeling dread pool in her gut, Lucina looked up at her father who was towering over her. His sword was above his head, ready to strike her down with the finishing blow. Lucina could only put her head back down in silent acceptance

But when the sound of swords clashing hit her ears, she looked back up and gasped.

“You know, I really was down for this ‘I gotta handle this alone’ deal, but after pacing back and forth for ten minutes straight, I thought I’d at least check up on you, and boy am I glad I did!”

Lucina just stared. After a few moments, she started to grin. Standing back up, Pit finally pushed Chrom back, who stumbled a few feet, then regained his balance and leaped a few more away. Standing up to her full height, Lucina’s grip on Falchion felt stronger than ever as she stood next to Pit.

Lucina’s grin stayed, “So, Pit, it appears I was wrong again, I do need help. Would you like me to apologize now? Or can it wait a few minutes?”

Pit twirled his blades around cockily, “Actually, I do want you to apologize right now. You can do so by helping me get your father back by fighting as hard as you can.”

Lucina’s focus when into hyperdrive, “That’s good enough for me. Just be careful. You see me as hard to beat, and I learned everything I know from him.”

With the two yelling at the same time, they charged forward with determination filling them.

Chrom saw this and got defensive. The first attack went both smoothly and shakily. First, Pit slashed at him with his dual-swords, which the man blocked easily. Reaching out past his sword, he gripped Pit’s tunic at the neck and held him off to the side. His daughter swiped at him, which he almost didn’t dodge. Then, he used his leg to kick his daughter away, which made her grunt out in pain.

Taking no extra time, he used the light-weight angel as another weapon and threw him at a fumbling Lucina. With two large “oof”s, the two tumbled away like two strings being tied together into a knot. When he started to stride to them, they got back up and regripped their swords. The largest noise of the fight would be him using his sword to clash against both of their respective weapons at the same time.

The three stood in a makeshift triangle formation, glaring at one another. Breaking away, all of them leaped and stood silently, examining the mood to see what would be the next objective. For the next few minutes, a pattern would be formed.

One of the non-brainwashed fighters would take on Chrom one-v-one, while the other ran behind him and waited. The one fighting Chrom would use a variety of attacks before leaping away. The next part wouldn’t work as well as the first, however, as Chrom quickly adapted and blocked whatever the person behind him would throw.

After a few attempts of that, the fighters would once again just stand around, looking menacingly at each other, waiting for them to make a move. Taking only a moment, Lucina and Pit looked at one another to communicate with no words on what they needed to do next. They each nodded once.

First, Lucina ran forward. Once she got close to her father, she slashed her sword like many times before. Again, Chrom would block, but instead of attacking again, Lucina kept him on her. This allowed Pit to pull out his bow and aim towards Chrom’s chest. He fired only once, and Lucina moved out of the way so it could land.

It didn’t, but it did cause Chrom to put his Falchion in front of him to block it. The arrow hit his sword with such force, Chrom stumbled backward and nearly fell off the world himself before barely regaining his balance at the edge.

This is when Pit saw his moment. Running forward past Lucina, Pit crossed his swords into an X-shape and pointed them at the ground. When he attacked, Chrom put his sword up to block it, but that’s exactly what the angel expected. Instead of stabbing him head-on, Pit placed his swords below Chrom’s Falchion and pushed upward.

It worked perfectly. Chrom was caught off guard, and his only line of defense was currently being thrown up in the air. When the man lost his grip on the handle, Pit leaped to the side and let his partner do the rest. With an emotion-filled shout, Lucina used her own Falchion to slash her father’s chest, sending him flying backward into the darkness below.

Both fighters were tense and breathing heavily. They’re pretty sure they won, but they weren’t completely sure just yet. However, when a deep voice above them shouted **CONGRATULATIONS!** , they finally let their shoulders drop in satisfaction.

With the blink of an eye, they were back in the foggy forest along with an unconscious Chrom at their feet. Running over to her father, Lucina dropped to her knees to check his vitals.

Pit also ran over, but kept a nice distance, “How is he? Is he gonna be okay?!”

Checking over her father a little more, Lucina let out a relaxed sigh, “As of right now, yes, it looks like he will be.” Lucina looked back up at Pit with a small grin. The angel let out a sigh of relief like his friend when she looked back down over her father. Her shoulders started to shake before the shakes traveled to her whole body.

Pit gasped when he heard Lucina started to cry, “H-hey! Lucina, we got him back, what’s wrong?”

Lucina cried for a few more seconds before looking back up at Pit. Despite the tear tracks on her face, she had one of the largest smiles she’s ever had during this apocalypse and kept staring at the angel with it, “No, Pit, I’m not sad. I’m just… so happy… he’s finally back, and that just… it makes me so… happy.”

Pit couldn’t help but smile right back as he reached his hand to help her up.

She gratefully took it.

 

\---

Pit was sitting in a chair, swinging his legs back and forth like a toddler waiting in a doctor's office, which, at the moment, is kind of true.

He’s currently waiting for Lucina to come out from the room she’s in. Her mother was with her, along with Ike. Marth would be there, but right before they got back with Chrom, Marth was sent out with Lucas and Daisy to continue scouting. Corrin briefly popped his head in to wish them well, and Roy probably would be there too, but they still haven’t found him…

The sound of multiple voices stopped Pit’s thoughts from going too dark. Stilling his legs and holding his breath, Pit looked down the hall. 15 or so feet away, a tent flap opened up. Walking out of it were Doctor Mario, Ike, and Lucina. The vague words Pit could hear seemed to be a mix of thank yous, your welcomes, goodbyes, and even instructions on something.

Well, whatever it was, all that matters was that Lucina was back.

Pit shot up out of his chair and bounded down the hall to his friend.

Ike and Doctor Mario were already gone when Pit stopped right in front of Lucina and waited. Taking a moment to blink at her friend (Pit did surprise her going that fast), Lucina figured out why he was waiting with bated breath. She smiled as she told him, “My father is okay. He needs to rest, and my mother will be the first to watch over him, but he’s okay.”

Halfway through her explanation, Pit started grinning like a fool, “That’s great!”

Lucina’s smile got wider as she nodded. She then proceeded to walk forward, “Yes, it is.” Pit was going to ask her why she was coming closer, but when she wrapped her arms around him, he didn’t need to ask anymore. As he returned the hug, she gripped him tighter and continued, “And it’s all thanks to you.”

Pit wanted to tell her, ‘now that’s not true’, but, that was a different conversation for a different time. For right now, he just kept his arms around her while she kept hers around him. Pit was keenly aware of how he still had one person left to find in his family, but Lucina finally had all of hers, and he thought that was good enough for now.

He was content with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before you point out: yes, there are a couple of things i left out. a couple of owls statues are some things, and i am aware of the fact i did this world out of order. when i mapped this chapter out, i forgot about the boulder blocking your way to the sword at the beginning. to put it back in, i wouldve had to redo the entire chapter, so i left it out in the end. there are probably a few other things i forgot about as well. i hope you enjoy it anyways!
> 
> let me know if there are any glaring typos! you can give criticism as long as its given respectfully!
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	6. Flames on the Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both of your parents are back! That's so amazing! I'm so happy for you, Lucina.
> 
> Uh oh, we've got a problem! Right, beat the boss and it should go away! C'mon, we've got a job to do!
> 
> (Oh boy, this boss is way too hard! We need backup asap! If they come, I wonder who they will be!)

“Didn’t they say that I could upgrade my arrows somewhere?”

“I thought so. But isn’t that on the other side of the base, though?”

“Oh, right! I should do that later today, then.”

Lucina nodded when she went back to her book. She pinched and rubbed the corner of the page before she flipped it. A couple of feet away was Pit, who was trying to balance on a stool to reach something from the higher part of the shelves. He eventually grabbed what he wanted with an ‘aha!’ and jumped down off the stool.

When he flopped down on the other side of the couch that Lucina was curled up on, he let out a sigh. Lucina flinched momentarily, but relaxed when she saw it was just her friend being himself. She went back to her book, and while Pit opened the one he had, he didn’t start reading it just yet.

His attention was on Lucina, “Sooo, how is Chrom? Your dad?”

Lucina took a moment to register the angel’s words, “Hmm? Oh, right, he’s doing a little better. My turn to watch over him was okay, but he didn’t really show any signs of waking up. Mother is watching him right now.”

Pit looked down to the book and actually started to read it, “Ah, okay. Any reason why he’s taking so much longer than other fighters to wake up?”

Lucina raised her eyebrows to show she was still listening. She turned a page in her book, “Samus told me it had to do with how much damage he took before being taken down. Even when we fought Zelda she didn’t have that much overall. My father, on the other hand, had much more, so his body needs more time to recharge.”

Pit also nodded, “Makes sense.”

The two sat in silence, each reading their own thing. It was a nice silence for once. One that spoke how comfortable they’ve gotten with each other. In the beginning, Pit would have wanted to talk Lucina’s ear off, and Lucina would have just ignored him.

How far they’ve come.

“Hey, kids, you’ve been requested to join the meeting about Hyrule.”

The two fighters in question looked up from their books to see Snake leaning on the doorway. They looked at each other before standing up and putting their books back on the shelf. They walked out the door and waved goodbye to Snake, who also waved as he walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.

Lucina and Pit got to the meeting room. They looked at each other once more before Lucina took action and opened the door for them both. They were met by Toon Link and Link standing up in the front next to Ganondorf, who was sitting down in a chair. Around a conference table listening to them was Samus, Captain Falcon, Zelda, Fox, Mario, Peach, and Luigi sitting, listening intently.

Toon Link was in the middle of explaining the layout of the land, “-which leads you to- oh! Lucina and Pit, come in! We wanted to talk to you.”

The fighters looked around nervously at all the big names before anxiously sitting down at two empty chairs next to each other. Samus was next to Lucina, and Captain Falcon was by Pit. The newcomers were motioned to look up at the Links, which they did.

Toon Link smiled and started up again, “Welcome, Lucina and Pit! You two are probably wondering why we wanted you to join us!”

Pit and Lucina both nervously nodded their heads.

Samus, from behind Lucina, answered their burning question, “You two single-handedly saved everyone in that word by yourselves.” Both Lucina and Pit gasped. They did? “That means you two were able to see nearly all of the land.”

Captain Falcon finished for Samus, “Can you two tell us about everything you saw and dealt with?”

Pit and Lucina happily informed them of everything, from the spirits to the biomes. “As we left with my father, we saw that the yellow triangles in the middle turned into a castle. I’m assuming that’s the last thing we need to do to complete the world,” Lucina finished.

Zelda nodded in agreement, “It is. But the question remains, do you know what you have to do?” Zelda continued at the shake of their heads, “There’s a boss in that castle that needs to be defeated. Do you know who it is?”

They shook their heads again. Zelda directed them to look at normal Link, who proceeded to point at Ganondorf sitting next to him. The two fighters took a moment to register what the Hylian meant before standing up quickly, both letting out shouts of “What?!”

Ganondorf inhaled. He expected responses like that, “Yes, however, the key difference is that the boss in question is just a _version_ of myself. Do either of you know what my Final Smash is?”

Both thought deeply before Pit remembered, “Oh, yeah! It’s that giant monster, right?”

Ganondorf nodded his head, “Yes. I’m sad to say that this ‘monster’ is what the final boss of the Hyrule world is. You’ll have to fight a more advanced version of it.”

Both Lucina and Pit let out drawn-out ohs before sitting back down in their chairs. 

Ganondorf continued, “The reason you were called here to join us is that we want your help informing the other fighters about the land, and to inform you of the fact that-”

“GUUYSS! GUYS GUYS GUYS!”

They were quickly interrupted by a tiny voice in distress. They looked towards the doorway.

Isabelle ran in, crying and sobbing. Out of all the things they’ve seen, a terrified Isabelle was one they never thought of, after all, she’s always been so optimistic throughout this entire situation. Everyone waited with bated breath, but nothing could prepare them for what the dog had to inform them of so urgently.

“There’s a bunch of giant, creepy, white hands swarming the base!”

Oh shit.

\---

Jumping through a bunch of thin, blue lasers, Pit landed back down on the ground and immediately started running again. When Isabelle mentioned how Crazy and Master Hands were attacking home base, the meeting was adjourned by a silent unanimous decision as everyone ran out to hopefully stop the oncoming rush of danger.

Rolling to avoid the same Hand from grabbing him, Pit looked around to try and find the one thing he needed to find. As far as he’s aware, Dark Pit was out getting more resources, so he wasn’t in or around the base at this moment. There! About thirty feet away was Lucina, who leaped away from a hand that narrowly drilled her into the ground.

Pit winced at how close it really got.

Pit watched as Lucina stood back up and looked around with the same amount of fear he had before she noticed him. They both looked into each other’s eyes before running at one another, barely stopping themselves from crashing into each other. The only thing that prevented them from hugging the other at that moment was the simple fact that they were _being attacked by dozens of Crazy and Master Hands._

Pit wiped his chin and looked around in a panic, “Oh man, Lucina, what do we do?!”

Lucina was breathing heavily and leaning over with her hands on her knees. She didn’t want to leave her parents alone like this, but she also knew about the duty they needed to take care of, “I- I don’t know…”

Lucina and Pit heard an oncoming attack. Before they could do anything, like possibly defend themselves, Fox leaped in front of them and Shined. The attack was deflected away and exploded in an area a good distance from not only Pit and Lucina, but everybody else too. They watched as the bipedal animal climbed some kind of rock a few feet away.

Fox was shooting at two Master Hands when he shouted out over everyone, hoping they would hear his instructions, “Listen up! Focus on getting to the final objective! Once you make it to the L.o.Z. world, waste no time and get to the boss! Others will catch up later! The sooner we defeat it, the quicker and easier these Hands will leave!”

Lucina was listening to the commander when Pit shouted “LOOK OUT!” and tackled her a few feet away. The sound of an explosion made her keenly aware of the fact that missiles were shot at her. Letting out a ‘tch’ Lucina blinked away any possible emotions that threatened to spill out of her eyes and stood back up.

She stuck her hand down to help Pit, who was in the middle of getting up himself. He just stared at the hand, before staring at her face, then, he finally took it and stood up himself. Once he brushed off his tunic, the duo started booking it back to the other world.

Her parents would be fine! They’re in one of the most center-based rooms in the entire base, and even if a Hand managed to find them, her mother is one of the most powerful people she knows. They’ll be fine. They always are...

It was hard. It was difficult. But they eventually made it back to the mock Hyrule. Even though they had time to rest, they still kept running and running until they got to the castle entrance. They only stopped for a moment to look at each other, like they always do, before running again and going inside.

No looking back. They need to do this now and not later. Everyone’s life depended on them.

The castle was pure rubble and chaos. Fire lit up the place just about everywhere. The only thing that resembled a castle on the inside was the broken and titled throne off to the side. But that’s something to think about later, after all, the two fighters got to the middle of the destroyed building and met none other than Ganondorf.

Well, not Ganondorf, but it was _Ganondorf._ They gripped their weapons tighter and waited.

The fake Ganondorf stared at them with only annoyance. He let out a scream and threw his arms back. Lucina and Pit watched as the already big man turned into an even bigger monster. It was some kind of a mix between a cow, minotaur, and warthog.

The angel and sword wielder both gulped before their faces switched from fear-filled ones to glares. They were told to go ahead, and they certainly aren’t going to let the big names down.

With a shout, both charged forward.

\---

They noticed a problem right away.

It took about ten minutes too long as well. When they first started fighting Ganon, they thought it was a game of “who can get tired first” as literally _none of their attacks worked._ They also thought it was going to be a ridiculously hard version of it too because while they were getting winded, the boss hadn’t even broken a sweat.

It wasn’t until Pit took a shot of luck and hit his tail directly in the green light part did they figure it out. Ganon let out a scream of anguish, which means, yes, _it can be hurt,_ but the only place it’ll happen is on a very _specific_ and _small_ part of its tail.

Oh joy. This must be the thing the guys at the meeting wanted to warn them about.

Pit let out a scream in pain when the giant monster hit him directly with one of its swords. Lucina was on the other side, so Pit only had to worry about himself when Ganon did its charge and push forward attack. Using his wings, the angel flew way above the charging boss and landed near Lucina.

Pit’s panting was the hardest it’s ever been, “Lucina, what do we do?!”

Lucina wasn’t any better than he was, “I don’t know. Maybe we need to spl-”

“LOOK OUT!”

Separating once more, Pit and Lucina jumped in opposite directions when Ganon jumped back into the fight with his large slam. Lucina slid a few feet once she landed while Pit softly placed his feet down about 20 feet away. Pit and Lucina stared at each other while Ganon let out a hearty roar. 

The two fighters kept staring at each other when they both gulped like they were swallowing a rock. Getting serious, they looked at each other in the eyes and did what they always did best.

Non-verbally communicate.

Pit ran forward and started waving his arms around in a vain attempt to get the boss’ attention, and he did. The giant beast turned its head around and noticed what looked like a chicken. It gripped its swords tighter and planned to attack the pest, but instead yelled in pain when a sharp, stabbing feeling hit its tail.

Turning back around, the lady jumped away before she could be hit by one of its attacks. Ganon wanted to attack her now, but the same painful feeling hit its tail right as it started walking. The boss turned around once again and watched as the same angel started waving his arms again.

Now the thing was getting pissed.

This plan of action would be repeated multiple times, so much so they were getting excited at how coordinated they were. Everyone once in a while they would have to play the waiting game again. They would watch for an opening then go back in to do the same old song and dance. 

It was going well, they even had the expectations that they would win the fight before anyone else got there as reinforcements.

But, alas, they can’t have anything good with lives like theirs.

Whether or not Ganon got lucky or the monster had actually picked up on what they were doing was a moot point. The thing they had to worry about was how when Pit was distracting it, Lucina had come up to make her move and attack its tail like normal. Instead of taking the attack like before, Ganon charged up its blue disc attack and rapidly turned around, throwing it at Lucina and nailing her right in the upper chest and head.

It was amazing that she wasn’t knocked out instantaneously.

She was flung back a ridiculous amount, bouncing for the first half and sliding on her side against the ground the rest. She was in a world halfway between extreme pain and feeling absolutely nothing. In response, all she could do was let out a deep guttural groan and curl up in on herself.

Pit could only feel panic. “LUCINA!” he screamed, outstretching his hand as if he could somehow wave away her pain. Once the monster started moving again, Pit just saw white. He didn’t know if Ganon was going for him or for the incapacitated Lucina, he just knew that he had to _stop it._

Charging forward with wide eyes silently, Pit jumped up in the air and slashed downward once he was over Ganon’s tail. By this time, Lucina was able to lift the upper half up of her body with her arms off the ground to look at Pit, albeit barely. She was struggling greatly, her whole body shaking in the process.

Instead of letting out a pain-filled roar, Ganon grunted and swung back around to look at the little pest, who was smiling nervously and still had his weapons in Ganon’s tail. Before anyone could scream or roar or move, Ganon started to deeply inhale this black and red light.

Pit screamed and tried to fly away while Lucina just widened her eyes.

A bright, huge laser came from Ganon’s mouth, hitting Pit directly on his back. That scream, along with another one and a whine of pain, was the last thing he did before falling brutally unconscious. Lucina felt her chest stop when she saw her friend fall from the air, then collapse on the ground and not get up. 

When she saw Ganon in the corner of her eye start to stride towards the passed-out angel, she decided there was only one more option.

Using what little strength she had left, she pushed herself up and started running. She left her sword behind, but that didn’t matter for what she wanted to do. Falling onto her knees at the last second, she was able to put her body over Pit’s prone one and shut her eyes. 

She was hopefully expecting nothing or at least pain to signify that she protected her friend. She instead heard the noise of something clanging against metal. Right before she opened her eyes back up, she heard a feminine voice that would have made her gasp if she still had the ability to use her lungs.

“ _Elthunder!_

As Lucina started to pick her head up off the ground and make a meek attempt to somewhat sit up, she listened as Ganon roared in pain (guess that attack hit his tail) and jumped back. The next conversation ensued was one Lucina would remember for the rest of her life.

“Nice aim, honey, glad to see you listened to what Kid Link actually had to say.”

‘Honey’ laughed sarcastically, “I probably wouldn’t have a listening problem if you just made your council meetings more interesting, dearie.”

‘Dearie’ grumbled, “Whatever, let’s just save our daughter before we start to squabble again.”

‘Honey’ hmm’ed in content, “That I agree with.”

Lucina was only able to get her head up in the end. Falling unconscious, still managing to shield Pit as she was still over him, the last thing that was on her mind was the fact that _holy shit,_ those were her parents’ feet and legs!

She’s no longer worried about what’s going to happen.

\--

Blinking her eyes open felt both groggy and refreshing.

The first thing she did was stare at the ceiling. She was totally out of it. She had no idea what happened or what is happening and she needs a moment to figure it out. She felt kind of sore, but other than that she was relatively okay. When she heard voices talking about her was when she remembered.

“I didn’t realize how bad the situation was. Do they really want to send us back out already?”

A feminine voice sighed, “Yes, unfortunately. When Lucina found you, it was practically immediately after saving me. They’re in a time crunch and it seems like they don’t have many other options.”

The first voice sighed as well, “I can see that, and while I understand it, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Lucina was uncomfortable in her position. She barely moved her arm, but that was enough to interrupt the duo's conversation. It seemed they didn’t care all that much, however, after all, Lucina was _awake._

“Lucina!”

“You’re awake! Honey, go get Dr. Mario-”

Wait! Lucina wanted to talk first, “W-wait, please…” Her voice was shaky, but it was better than what she was expecting. She thought she wouldn’t have one at all.

Both her parents stopped, which included Chrom, who was trying to walk out the door. Both watched as Lucina sat up. Well, she _tried_ at least. They both quickly got to her side when it looked like she was struggling.

Robin kept a strong and firm hand on her back, “Hey, easy, easy sweetie.”

Chrom sat down on the bed next to her, gently grabbing her arm and helping her sit up, “Hey, it’s okay, I’ll stay for now.”

After a few moments, Lucina was finally sitting up against the wall behind her. Her mother placed a pillow in between her back and the wall so Lucina could be more comfortable. She still kept a motherly hand on her daughter’s shoulder, “My magic might have done a lot of the outside work, but we don’t know anything else. We saw you get hit pretty badly, so I don’t want to take any chances-”

“I know,” Lucina said, softly interrupting her mom’s panic, “I know, but… you said it yourself, they’re sending people back out really quickly. If we don’t talk now, when will we have the time to do so later?”

Her parents looked at each other. Lucina had a point. When they looked back at a very serious Lucina, Chrom was the one to continue, “Alright, you’re right. What do you want to tell us?”

Lucina blinked in shock a few times. Right, her father was actually _here_ now. He was a physical being that could talk, something she tended to forget more often than she liked, “Well… I suppose it’s bad to say I don’t know where to start. Part of me wants to apologize-” her parents opened their mouths, “-which I know isn’t true, _yes,_ but it’s just- I’m just-” the words spilling out of her mouth turned into a large groan of pure frustration.

Both Chrom and Robin raised their eyebrows in shock at the ending of her sentence, but Lucina didn’t notice and just kept going, “I’m just… so lost, right now. I’m happy but scared you’re back. I feel so confident for the future, yet at the same time, I’m terrified one decision will make me lose everything again. I know it’s not my fault but I can’t help but feel I failed you guys again!”

Lucina was shouting by the time she reached the end of her rant. Both her parents were leaning back a little since she _was_ screaming in their faces. Once Lucina gained clarity, she realized that she was breathing heavily and had one of her hands up in the air. When she saw her parents’ sympathy filled gazes, she looked down to avoid them. 

She started rubbing her eyes with her hands in a vain attempt to hold back the waterworks. She was on the verge of crying, but she didn’t know if it was from everything that happened or if it was from embarrassment. It was silly, after all, they were back with her now. Sure, they had to deal with the rest of the fallout, but why is she just as frazzled as she was at the start? Looking at her lap, she let out a gasp when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders and hugged her tightly.

It was Robin, who had just realized why her daughter would be so distraught over all of this happening at once, “I get it, sweetie, I really do. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure it won’t happen again. We promise.”

Shortly after, Chrom did the same motions and realized the same thing, “What your mother said, Lucina. I realize it’s been scary for you, and I’m sorry that you had to deal with us disappearing again, but we’ll do everything in our power so you won’t have to worry about it happening anymore.”

With her parents sandwiching her in between them, both of their heads resting on the top of hers, Lucina couldn’t hold back her emotions anymore. Slightly shaking, she snaked her arms around their waists and let the tears flow. She could vaguely feel the top of her hair get wet as her parents tightened their hold on their daughter.

She never thought she would have this again. None of them did.

In the middle of their moment, a voice from behind the door could be heard. Worrying that it was an intruder, the three family members quickly snapped their heads to look at the door in question. Instead of a potential attacker, they got a fumbling angel who stumbled through the door that opened unexpectedly.

The royal family just stared at the angel before Pit laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head anxiously, “H-hey guys, I was coming in to check on Lucina! Yeah- and I thought you were done! But I also wanted to make super sure that you were! So I leaned my ear on the door to see if you were and I guess it wasn’t fully closed, so...”

The angel’s voice trailed off as he looked up at the family sitting on the bed. He let out a noise of surprise when he saw two looks of semi-disdain on Chrom and Robin’s faces. It was very obvious why Pit was outside the door, let alone why he was leaning on the thing in the first place. Besides, listening in on private conversations involving people he cared about was very in-character for him.

He was going to try and convince them ‘I _totally_ wasn’t listening in on you guys!’ but in the end, relented anyway. He turned around and sighed while walking out of the room, “Yeah I’m just gonna go and get the doctor…”

Chrom and Robin just sighed in exasperation. Quite the friend their daughter has made, apparently. Lucina couldn’t hold back the smile on her face while she rolled her eyes watching Pit leave the room in shame. Glad to see he’s up and about. Yeah, Pit could be a buffoon sometimes.

But he was a buffoon she was glad to have by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay!! lucina's parents are back!!! it took a while to get here but i think it's worth it! 
> 
> just as a fyi i decided to give commissions a try! here is [the link](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/post/184968460921/halos-writing-commissions) to my prices and rules and i would be super happy if you hit me up on that! (school is almost over but this next week might be hectic so be warned for that!) there are only two slots left so if you want one you better hop on that! 
> 
> let me know if you spot any typos that are really noticeable! please give your criticisms respectfully~
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	7. Three Trials of Sacred Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... there's no more searching?
> 
> Oh...
> 
> (Maybe we'll get lucky...)

“Pit, get up you lazy bum.”

A hand rolled him over, “Wha- why? I want five more minutes.” 

“Emergency meeting has been called. Everyone who is here needs to be present.”

“Then just say I’m not here.” The angel flipped back over.

He was then roughly yanked out of bed and dragged down a hallway.

Touche, Lucina.

Right before they got to the meeting, and a minute or so after Lucina let go of Pit’s tunic and let him walk behind her, they ran into her parents. They were looking at something in Robin’s book and were deep in conversation. Chrom looked up to see Lucina and Pit saunter towards them.

“Ah, Lucina! Glad to see you found him.”

Lucina stopped walking and sighed, “Yes, I went to where you went. You know you could’ve just yanked him out of bed, it’s not that hard. Or did he somehow convince you to let him keep sleeping?”

Robin just gave her husband a look of ‘really?’ while he sheepishly grinned. “Well, whatever the reason, we’re all here now. C ‘mon, let’s head in.” Chrom used his arms to put one around each of his girls. He gave them each a smooch on the sides of their heads, each having around the same reaction of embarrassment. Pit just followed behind and watched the family with a forlorn smile.

He really wasn’t jealous. He was extremely happy that Lucina could have her anchors back. Pit has one of his two (yes, Pittoo cares, he just can’t say it for fear of imploding from the number of FEELINGS), and Pit is very happy about that as well! But his third and most important one still being gone, especially now that they’ve found most of the fighters, is… disheartening at best.

Next thing he knew, he walked directly into Robin’s back due to not focusing on his surroundings. He let out a small “Sorry,” and he watched her register his words. She just smiled with motherly forgiveness.

Great, now he feels worse!

“Everyone! Front and center!”

The loud voice of Samus boomed throughout the room. Everyone who was conversing shut up and everyone that wasn’t paying attention now was. Samus had her typical look of seriousness, as well as all of the other big names that were standing up next to her, but Pit felt calmed by it. There was a look behind their eyes that said everything was going to be okay.

“Dharkon has been defeated. We’ve just come back from fighting him,” Samus stated bluntly.

Gasps of varying emotions, pitch, and noise level sounded throughout the cramped space. All of them ended on cheers. People were rejoicing, hugging, crying, the whole nine yards. That included Lucina and her parents, who both lifted her off the ground in a giant embrace. Pit watched everyone with a smile and a vain attempt to hold back tears.

Huh, is it really over? That’s it, then. No more fighting, no more people to find-

Surprisingly enough, what broke Pit out of his self-imposed pity party was the look of Samus’ face. She was smiling, yes, but her eyes had a sense of fear and sadness behind them. Like she was going to tell someone their closest family member died.

After she was set down by her parents, Lucina turned around and was going to give Pit her own form of a hug, but then she saw his face, and the smile dropped off hers. Pit was extremely serious, even a little scared almost, and still staring up at Samus. Lucina turned back around to stare up at the front of the room to see what he was looking at.

Her parents went through the same motions. They had just got done kissing (the romantic way, as Lady called it) when they looked back at their daughter and saw she was no longer smiling. Before asking what happened or what’s up, they looked up at the front like her and Pit. Samus, along with Peach and Marth and others were trying to get everyone's attention again.

Chrom got serious, “Hey! Everybody, listen up!”

His voice was loud and held no room for argument. While it wasn’t spontaneous like with Samus, it was enough to get everybody to trail off back into a reasonable silence. Robin just grinned. He was very much a newbie here, yet he still had the ability to be a commander whenever he needed. 

Peach looked nervously around. She was reluctant. It felt like she was about to tell a room full of kids Santa wasn’t real. She took a deep breath, “Yes, Dharkon has been defeated. But the fight is not over.” Gasps of shock were all that filled the room, “We don’t know why, but right as we were far enough away from the battle site, Dharkon had risen from the dead and gone to up above. To prevent any catastrophes from happening again, we’re all going to follow it immediately.”

Murmurs filled certain groups and cliques. Pit vaguely registered Chrom grabbing Lucina’s hand and Robin linking an arm with the one Chrom wasn’t holding. Pit wasn’t concerned about that at the moment. What he was worried about was voiced by Ike a couple of feet in front of him.

“What?! What about the last couple of fighters?! Do they mean nothing?!”

Marth stepped forward with an obvious grimace on his face. Pit remembered something about Roy not being found yet as the swordsman started speaking, “I’m aware of… the consequences if we leave and finish this now. But we’ve searched both worlds from top to bottom: there is no sign of any of the last fighters being in either of them. Even if there were, we wouldn’t be able to save them if Dharkon regains power and just takes us all over again. Kirby escaped once, there’s not a huge chance he could do it again after all of this.”

A sad “poyo” was heard, confirming Marth’s words. There were barely any fighters left to save, but the idea of leaving anyone behind is crushing to the room full of heroes. Mario cleared his throat in the awkward silence, “You will have-a thirty minutes to grab-a anything you may-a need for the final fight. Once the time is up-a, everyone will meet at the entrance to the base-a.” Dead silence filled the room. No one seemed to like talking now. 

Mario spoke the last words before they all split up.

“I’m-a sorry, everybody.”

Groups of varying sizes left the meeting area. Each of them was speaking in different volumes. Some were angry, others were depressed. Lucina watched as one by one, people went back to their respective rooms. Behind her, Chrom and Robin were listing off their things.

“These potions would work the best for quick treatments in the middle of battle.”

“Yes, I agree. Lucina, sweetheart, don’t forget to get your sword, also, Robin-”

She wasn’t listening at that point. She was more focused on her friend, who hadn’t moved at all. She slowly approached him with an arm out in front of her. She only elicited a response when she gently placed her hand on his shoulder, causing him to practically flinch out of his tunic.

“Hey, Pit,” Lucina spoke, “is everything… okay?”

Pit still reacted slowly, sharply inhaling and wiping his eyes with his arm after a few moments of silence, “Oh, y- yeah! Don’t worry about it, I just… can’t believe it’s almost over! Yeah, I can’t believe we won’t have to worry about this anymore. So, if you’ll excuse me, I n-need to go get m-my stuff-”

And with that, Pit booked it out the room, nearly barreling into Robin and Chrom. He barely sidestepped out of the way, so when he ran next to them, Robin’s cloak flapped at the pressure pushing on it. Both of her parents watched the distraught angel flee their company, leaving them to only look back at Lucina with their concerned gazes.

“Um, Lucina, do you know what’s wrong?” Chrom asked. Robin didn’t say anything, but her face spoke the same question.

Lucina was left speechless, her mouth somewhat agape, “I… I don’t know.”

The family soon left the room themselves. Chrom and Robin kept on conversing on what they needed to grab, while Lucina was left to be deep in thought. Why did Pit run? What was making him upset? More importantly, how can Lucina fix it?

“Hey! Blueberry hair! Where’s Pit?”

Lucina blinked out of her thoughts to turn around and see Dark Pit strutting towards her. He seemed to be angry, but that’s also just his normal face at this point. Lucina could vaguely feel her parents stare at this new angel with discontent. Please, father, I know you would use ‘blueberry hair’ yourself if you came up with it first.

Walking forward a little bit, Lucina was honest, “He ran off due to the recent news. I was just about to go out and find him, wherever he is.”

Dark Pit crossed his arms with an emotion that was unreadable. Though, he seemed to be momentarily shocked that his brother would be the one to ‘run out’, “Okay… so what was this ‘recent news’ then? Don’t try to explain his actions, just give me the unfiltered story.”

Lucina thought for a moment on how to string the words together in her head to make sense, “Well, turns out, Dharkon had been defeated, but he got back up again and fled to the upper world. So, now we’re dropping everything to go chase him before he can put us back to square one.”

The angel was nodding his head through her entire explanation. When she stopped talking, he stopped nodding, “Wait, that’s it?” Lucina nodded her head as well, “Oh, well, what about the other fighters?”

Lucina nodded her head once again, “That we’re kind of leaving them behind? Yeah, no one is really happy about that. But the majority thought that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, so they’re getting put on the back burner for now. Do you think that’s why Pit was upset? Because he has to leave people behind?”

Dark Pit just facepalmed, “Well, you’re half right…”

Lucina got more confused, “Half right? What does that-”

He must have been really tired, because he immediately raised his voice in annoyance at her ignorance, “Think about the last fighters for two seconds! Who do we still need to rescue?!”

Lucina once again vaguely registered her parents’ reactions to the abrasive angel. She was too busy thinking about the last fighters like Dark Pit said to. Well, there was Roy for starters, she knew about him. There was also this Umbra-Witch lady that Pit complained about a lot (he wasn’t going to not save her if he had to, but he preferred it if someone were to get to her first). Well, then who else did that leave… didn’t Pit mention someone who was-

Oh… Oh, Gods, she was an idiot. A huge, insensitive idiot. Here she was, celebrating the return of her parents and the end of this entire mess like nothing ever happened and nothing was wrong, but something has been wrong the _entire time._ If they ended the fight here, Lucina’s world would be perfectly fine, but Pit’s would still crumble into pieces! 

She needed to fix this.

Lucina inhaled sharply, “Father. Mother. I messed up.”

Both Chrom and Robin looked at their daughter in confusion. Robin spoke in motherly comfort, “What do you mean by that, sweetie?”

Lucina was almost hyperventilating. Bring it back, bring it back, “Pit- he’s- it’s- one of his family members is being left behind! That’s why he ran out! He might never see her again! Gods, why didn’t I see it before…” She started pacing and speaking to herself in hushed whispers.

Chrom and Robin’s confusion melted into sympathy. Oh, so that’s what happened. Chrom was the one to walk up and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. She stopped walking, but her murmurs still kept going. Chrom took another direction, “Lucina.”

That got her to stop. She looked up at him with wide eyes. Chrom felt something in his chest. His daughter was a strong, adult woman, yet she still held him up as someone who could answer her every question, “Go find him. We’ll be waiting at the place Mario said.”

Lucina blinked a few times, “Yes, of course. Thank you, father.” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck while he wrapped his around her waist. They stayed there for a moment before Lucina leaped out of it, “Oh! My sword, I left it in my-”

“Don’t worry, I can go get it for you. Your family can get what they need that way.” Dark Pit walked past the family towards Lucina’s room. He turned back to look at her, his face being uncharacteristically soft, “Just… make sure he’s okay. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Lucina looked him seriously, “Okay, Pittoo. I promise.”

She smiled as she turned around and swiftly walked away. She could feel the eye-roll coming from him, but she could also tell he didn’t really mind. She also felt the eyes of her parents digging into her back. Not in a bad way, though, in fact, she would say she felt pride coming from them.

Now that left the last question: where did Pit go? There are a handful of places in the base that Pit could’ve gone. He’s been all over, volunteering anyway he can, so he has attachments to just about everything. Though, if she had to choose, there are only about three places that Pit would choose for pure comfort and safety reasons.

The medbay, where they got all of their respective issues out and became closer friends, his room, where he got to let go and just be himself for a little bit, and the place they all hung on in between missions, where new memories were formed while reminiscing over old ones. Thinking back to all of the possible reasons, the place Pit would go would have to be the hangout area, the one her mother spilled all of Lucina’s embarrassing secrets to him.

That’s her first guess, anyway. Here Lucina thought she was finally becoming a good friend, but she’s not so sure anymore.

\---

Well, at least Lucina was right about one thing so far.

Leaning into the makeshift doorway, slightly out of breath, her eyes immediately landed on the angel she was looking for. He was sitting on the couch, leaning his entire back against the part behind him with his head looking up toward the ceiling. She couldn’t see his face with how he was positioned, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t anything happy or joyful.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly walked over to the couch. She was very careful, making sure to only alert him of her presence when she sat down next to him. Even then, Pit didn’t jump or flinch like he usually did. His response to her sitting down next to him was just him lifting up his head at an average pace to look at her.

Lucina felt a pang in her chest when she saw the tear tracks streaming down his face.

Pit leaned over and placed his elbows on his knees, placed his hands over his eyes and started to wipe away any trace of his sadness, “S- sorry, for running off. I just needed a second to… take everything in, you know?” He grinned in her direction, but Lucina wasn’t comforted by it this time.

Pit saw this. The grin on his face fell off as he looked away toward the ground. Lucina kept looking at him, at a loss for what she needed to say. Everything she wanted to say or try felt like it wouldn’t work too well concerning Pit’s character.

Then again… Pit has always been the blunt type, hasn’t he? Lucina has never been very good at being subtle either. Taking a deep breath, she began.

“Do you know what got me through all of it?” Lucina smiled comfortingly.

Pit blinked a few times before picking his face off the ground to look at his friend, “Uh, what?”

Lucina didn’t know if that was a response or he genuinely didn’t hear her, but she’ll take it for now, “There were days where I just wanted to sit down and give up. Some nights I’d go to sleep thinking, ‘why should I keep trying? There’s no saving this world now.’ Yet, I got up anyway. I still kept fighting even when all hope was gone. Do you know why?”

Pit tilted his head. He wasn’t sure what Lucina was getting at.

Lucina smiled sadly, “It’s because I knew my father wouldn’t want me to.”

Pit’s eyes immediately widened. Lucina continued on.

“As hopeless as it seemed, my father wouldn’t have given up, and I know he would pass on that strength to me if he were still there. And I know how different your situation is with your Lady, I _know._ You know she’s out there, yet can’t do anything because you’re being forced to not find her, and it _sucks,_ there’s nothing I can do about that except explain things to you in a way I hope you can see how she might feel.”

Pit felt tears form again while Lucina finished her semi-rant, semi-comfort session.

“From what I’ve heard, Palutena is a wonderful person and an even better mentor to you. If everything you’ve told me about her is true, then I’ve got a feeling she would want you to keep going, just like my father would. She would want you to save the world as you’ve always done. Even though she’s not here, she would still continue to guide you and be proud of your achievements… As I said, I know I’m trying to convince you to leave the most important person in your life behind, and I wouldn’t blame you if you ignore everything I just said, I probably would have if I were in your shoes, but-”

Lucina got her response when she felt Pit leap into her arms and squeeze the air out of her lungs. Looking down at the small body surrounding her waist and chest, she listened as the angel speak out a meek, “Thank you…” that was muffled against her clothes. She just smiled and squeezed back.

Lucina rubbed his back and spoke two more sentences, “It’s nothing you haven’t already done for me. Besides, we may still be able to find her while finishing the fight, who knows?”

The next couple of minutes went by in a blur. The two walked back out to their respective families chatting up a storm. Lucina noticed her familiar sword gripped in Dark Pit’s hands. Interrupting the conversation they were having was Robin noticing that Lucina and Pit had returned. 

She looked over and smiled at both of them, but mostly at Pit, who tried to hide his grin at the affection. Lucina gave her thanks when she took her sword from Dark Pit, and the dark angel just nodded his head and went to his brother. Chrom came up behind Lucina and placed his hand on her shoulder. Looking up at his face, she saw a smile filled with pride. Lucina tried hiding her grin like Pit did not too long ago.

Now they were walking to where all the other smashers were. During that time, Pit seemed to perk up nicely. He talked Dark Pit’s ear off, but surprisingly, Dark Pit let it happen. He even seemed to be listening as well, which was nice. Lucina would interject into her parents’ conversation when they asked her something, but other than that, she quietly listened to them talk about plans and strategies.

Eventually, they all got to the entrance where everyone was standing. Seeing that everyone was here, the Leaders motioned for them to follow. Like a tidal wave of people and other humanoid things, they all marched back up to the top of the world. It was just like they had left it, however, there were a couple of things that were different.

The first major thing being that Dharkon and Galeem were both in the sky, fighting each other and neither willing to go down. No one was looking forward to getting into the middle of that. The other big thing they all noticed was a giant, dark tear in the world.

Everyone thought the same thing: that looks like a giant portal.

Before they all entered, Peach stepped up and suggested that they form groups. That way, nobody was alone, but they could have more eyes explore more area at the same time. They needed to cut the amount of time it would take, after all. Samus, counting everyone off, said to form groups of five to six.

Well, it was obvious who Lucina would be grouped up with, wasn’t it?

One by one, the groups each entered the portal. Eventually, it became Lucina and Pit’s turn. They took one last look at each other before both taking a deep breath and jumping in with their families. The dark, black portal quickly transformed into bright, white land, with pathways strung about the place as if a toddler took a crayon and drew random lines. The brightness was so bad they all needed to squint their eyes the first couple of minutes they were there.

Also, a _ridiculous_ amount of soldiers were strewn about as well. Like, you could not walk five feet without running into one of them. Battling their way through it, Pit’s group managed to stay afloat. Nothing major seemed to be happening, that is, until Galeem shrieked its lungs out. The ground shook and shook and shook until new pathways appeared.

Watching closely, Dark Pit pointed out an important detail, “Hey! Look! A new area appeared! Should we go check it out?”

The group looked around at one another before collectively and silently agreeing that, yes, they should go check it out. Fighting a handful of soldiers, they finally made it to the new area. It was extremely bare, but all of them knew that it meant something was hidden. If they weren’t careful, that thing would catch them off guard. They all had their weapons out. With those gripped tightly in their hands, they all formed a circle and each looked in a different direction.

Except behind themselves.

Then, Lucina felt it. 

A surge of power coming up behind her. A surge of an _extremely powerful_ power. Turning around as fast as possible, she let out a gasp she couldn’t contain. Her parents turned around just as quickly as she did, and they, too, faltered when they saw what caused their daughter to be shocked. Followed by them was Pit and Dark Pit, where the latter let out a gasp like Lucina and the former quietly whispered, “Oh my… Lady?”

Well, chalk that down as another thing Lucina was right about. Man, she’s on a roll, isn’t she?

Yup, standing in front of them all was none other than a stone-cold Palutena. She somehow managed to keep her regal calmness, while at the same time, filled each of their bodies with fear. It was here when the Goddess noticed that she was surrounded. With a small grin, she teleported out of the circle of assailants.

A few feet away, she reappeared. With a twirl of her body and a flick of her hair, she was back to standing straight as a board. Where she was put Pit and Dark Pit closest to her, with Lucina right behind them. The silence was thick. Lucina was tempted to cut it with her sword. Then, she found her words.

“Hey, Pit and Dark Pit.”

The two angels snapped out of their serious expressions for a moment to turn around to look at their friend. She was suddenly gripping her sword looser, and she had a smile on her face as if she was about to solve all their problems.

“If you two need to do this alone, then we will wait out here for your return,” Lucina said bluntly. It was only fair that she gave Pit and his brother the same opportunity that the former gave her. However, the nervous looks the two shared while glancing at each other made Lucina and her family raise their eyebrows.

Pit saw their confusion and quickly explained, “It’s not that we aren’t grateful! We are! It’s just that-”

“She’s an actual goddess,” Pittoo finished, “We need all the help we can get.”

Oh. Lucina’s lips thinned. She didn’t think about that part of the situation. “Well, if that’s what you wish.” Lucina looked back at her parents and smiled. She knew they wouldn’t object to helping the angels even if she wasn’t there, but it didn’t hurt to give some reassurance to them every once in a while, especially before something like this.

Both said nothing and just nodded their heads in support. Walking up to the group, they sandwiched the kids between them with, if you were to face them, Chrom on the left and Robin on the right. Pit stood on Chrom’s left and Dark Pit stood on Robin’s right. In the middle of all of them stood Lucina, who joined them as they all stared down what was safely assumed to be their hardest fight yet.

Palutena grinned a dark smile, one she would never make herself. Continuing the trend of surprises, instead of the typical ‘walk through a portal into the map’, the group of non-brainwashed fighters was blinded by an extremely bright, white light. They all needed to close their eyes until it went away.

Opening her eyes, Lucina noticed that she was alone and in a completely new area she’s never been to. So, instead of all going to the area themselves, they were forcibly taken to it, getting separated in the process. Actually, now that she’s had a chance to look around, she _has_ been here before.

Yes, this temple was very familiar. It was even more so after hanging out with Pit so much (he talked about it quite a bit when she asked about his family). This temple had another name. It wasn’t a very popular place to fight, but from what she’s heard it was a nice place to hang out for some peace and quiet.

This temple was none other than Palutena’s Temple. 

This was her playground, and with everyone being separated, it gave her an even larger upper hand than if they were together. Getting her thoughts together, Lucina ran over to an edge and looked down. It appears she was on the higher part of the map.

She could hear fighting in the distance. Leaping off the ledge and landing below, Lucina took no time to run over to the commotion. She needed to be fast. Fighting Palutena alone for too long would be detrimental, and Lucina knows first hand how bad fighting tired really is.

She gripped her sword’s handle tighter.

\---

The one to fight the brainwashed Goddess first was her mother.

She was doing a valiant job all things considered. She was able to stand her own ground, mostly dodging the attacks Palutena threw at her and attacking whenever her dodging allowed her to get close enough. Trying to be cheeky, Robin yelled out a measly, “Arcfire!” and attacked. That was probably where she went wrong.

Palutena just grinned and activated her Reflect Barrier, sending it back and catching the tactician off guard. The fire came flying back at her and only allowed her to widen her eyes before hitting her hard. She flew back, tumbled a little, but managed to land on her feet in the end. Robin was panting and glaring at Palutena, who was still smiling mischievously.

“Mother!” Lucina knew better than to face Palutena head on without a plan, let alone in a one-vs-one battle. Instead, she ran to Robin’s side. Looking at her mother once over, she was satisfied to see that Robin wasn’t too damaged from the attack. It didn’t hurt that she looked away from the battle and gave her daughter a calming smile either.

Dark laughter caused them to snap their heads up. Palutena was still standing there, watching the mother and daughter with what they assumed to be twisted desires. Shrugging off Robin saying her name in caution, Lucina charged at the Goddess. Lucina is aware that it wasn’t the best idea (she literally just said so), but she needs to learn how Palutena fights in close-quarter combat situations. After all, it was the only way Lucina could.

She gripped the hilt of her sword and brought it down furiously. With a large, metallic clang, it crashed down onto Palutena’s staff. They both stood there for a moment with Lucina glaring at Palutena while the Goddess just smiled her typical evil smile. It was then that Palutena brought her staff _downward,_ catching Lucina off guard. Why would she put herself in a position to be attacked? The answer: she didn’t.

Instead of getting hit with a powerful sword, Palutena quickly flicked her staff back upward, and with it, a bright beam of light right underneath Lucina as well. It hit the sword wielder dead center and thus threw her back towards Robin. Not before her body did a little flip and tumbled the rest of the way when it landed, though.

“Lucina!” Now it was Robin’s turn to check on Lucina. But before that, Robin gave one last glare to the Goddess, and thank the Gods she did. She was able to roll out of the way of that explosion attack that Palutena has. It would’ve hit her, and it would’ve hit hard if it landed. As the concerned mother sprinted over to her daughter, she heard someone come up behind Palutena.

She then heard the familiar sword being charged. Smiling, she knew she would be given a few moments to check up on Lucina now. Skidding over the last two feet on her knees, Robin got to Lucina right as the blue-haired woman got up, using her sword as support. “Are you still able to fight?” Asking her daughter if she was okay would be stupid, but she would prevent further life-threatening injuries by any means necessary. 

Lucina quickly calmed her mother’s worry by looking up and using the same smile Robin used on her earlier when their roles were reversed. Satisfied, Robin helped Lucina to stand just in time for them to look over and watch Chrom get tossed in their direction, sword landing in front of him out of his reach. They both shouted out to him as they ran to his side, kneeling on both his sides when they reached him.

The clicking of heels made them all collectively look up one last time. Palutena had walked a little closer, but not enough to use any of her attacks. It confused them greatly, that is until the Goddess glared at them one more time before blinking away with her teleport abilities. Lucina swore inside her head due to her parents being there. Speaking of:

“Father! Can you stand?” He answered Lucina’s question by doing just that, receiving a little bit of help from the two women who gripped his arms tightly.

He smiled at Lucina first, “As you can see, yes I can,” he leaned back over and picked up his sword. When he stood back up, he smiled at Robin, “But we have bigger issues right now. We need to hurry up and find her.”

Both ladies nodded their heads rapidly. Lucina said, “Right,” while Robin let out an, “Of course.” As a family, they both started to run in one direction. They had no idea where she might have gone, so they needed to start looking anywhere they could. The place they found her was surprising, to say the least. It also took them way longer than they liked.

After exploring the below area, Robin had conveniently looked up in frustration to watch a pair of wings fly back onto the highest place in the temple. “Quickly! To the top!” she yelled at her family. Listening to Robin, they all did exactly that. When they got there, they saw two different angels flying around a rather pissed off Goddess. Palutena felt the newcomers approaching and thus changed who she was attacking. 

She aimed her reticle at Lucina’s parents, and because of that, the two split away from their daughter. They checked to make sure she was okay, and when they saw she was, they focused back on Palutena. They charged her together. On the other side of the Goddess was Dark Pit charging up an arrow, ready to fire. It was here that Pit stopped for a moment to regain his breath. Lucina knew immediately what she wanted to do.

She called out to her friend, “Pit! How are you faring?!” She got to his side. He was breathing heavily, and there were a few scratches and bruises, but he seemed to be okay outside of that. Pit still found it in him to smile at his friend.

He stood up straight, “I’m doing okay. I found Pittoo, then we immediately got bombarded by Lady. Finally, we were chased up here and have been fighting ever since. Did you hear us fighting?”

Lucina shook her head, “No. My mother watched one of you nearly fly off the stage.” Pit marginally widened his eyes in understanding. Interrupting this moment was a scream (that was practically a screech) of epic proportions. The two fighters looked back at the commotion that was happening during their conversation, and what they saw sent shivers down their spine.

Palutena was glaring at them. What made the situation worse was her _eyes._ They weren’t bright red like before. No, as of right now, they positively glowed _white,_ signifying that she was about to do something _big,_ and that big thing was aimed squarely at _them._

They subconsciously scooted closer to one another while gripping their weapons tighter. Behind her was Robin, Chrom, and Dark Pit, all on their hands and knees. The first one to look up was Dark Pit, who’s facial expression went from drowsy confusion to rage very quickly, “Hey! Just what do you think you’re doing?!”

Both Robin and Chrom looked up in a panic at that. What they got to see was their daughter and her friend nervously staring and Palutena, trying to back away from her. The Goddess was staring solely at them. They both shouted out her name. Dark Pit did the same for Pit, yet it did nothing. Palutena caused a similar light akin to the one that brought them to the temple in the first place with a few differences.

Instead of a slow, growing light that got worse by the second, this one was quick. Like they blinked or like a camera went off. Still, Lucina had to readjust how much light her eyes were taking in by blinking over and over again. Finally getting a clear view, she examined what happened. She clearly wasn’t injured by it, that she was sure about, but what else?...

Oh, the area she was in was new. It was a large, circular platform, made out of the same beige stuff that the temple was made out of. Well, at least she didn’t have to worry about stage obstacles anymore. Wait a minute, _she?!_ Crap, she was alone!

Lucina panicked and looked around the new area until she could spot a familiar face. The one she found was Pit, doing the same thing as her. She was immediately calmed by him while he was immediately calmed by her, but then they both quickly realized the issue. The problem was the simple fact that _they were the only ones there._ Literally, no one else was with them. No Dark Pit, no Lucina’s parents, just empty space in between them and a very powerful Goddess who was currently grinning at their misfortune.

Well, this could potentially be a problem.

Lucina felt fear fill her body, but the breathing that was rapidly getting faster and faster next to her was able to keep her focused. She looked over and saw that the source of the hyperventilation was Pit, and frankly, that made a lot of sense. She did need to figure out a way to calm him down though. Taking a deep breath, she bit the bullet.

Bringing Pit out of his thoughts was a hand that calmly draped over his. Blinking, he looked to his right to see a Lucina gently smiling at him, “Remember, we’re in this together, right?”

He was speechless for only a moment. His eyes were filled with amazement and wonder. He will always be glad he could have her as his friend. Then, his facial expression changed to a much more serious yet still optimistic look. He nodded only once, then looked back over to his mind-controlled Lady. Lucina also looked back at the Goddess.

They regripped their weapons while she did the same. Her face changed from the stereotypical grin back to her murderous glare, however, this time, it had no effect on the fighters she was using it against. It was going to be hard, but they had each other. Nothing has been able to beat them when they were together.

Palutena shouted, “Explosive flame!” causing the two to split apart. They both regained their stances and started running towards her from different sides: Lucina from her left and Pit from her right. The angel pulled out his bow and fired one arrow at her, which she brought down her counter to send flying at Lucina.

It didn’t phase the swordswoman, who quickly swiped the arrow out of the sky with her weapon and used that momentum to take a swipe at Palutena. Once again, Lucina’s sword and Palutena’s staff clashed. However, when the Goddess tried to use the same attack as last time, Lucina was ready and was already cartwheeling backward to dodge it.

Miffed that the attack missed, Palutena registered the being that was coming up behind her. She barely teleported out of the way of Pit’s Upperdash Arm. Pit stood up straight and watched as she reappeared a few feet away. She was glaring at the angel but had to stop when she saw Lucina try attacking her once again.

Instead of blocking, she simply jumped back and used her reticle. The shots landed, causing Lucina to flinch a couple of times and stumble back, but other than that, Lucina was still up and ready to throw down. It was here when Pit ran up to Lucina and stood side by side with her once again, glaring with her at the Goddess who just wouldn’t go down. Palutena was also glaring at them, obviously not expecting them to last this long.

They charged at her again.

The fight would continue on for many more minutes. Sometimes it would look like Palutena would come out on top, but in the end, they brought it back to an even battle anyway. Their salvation would finally come when they were on opposite sides of the stage. Palutena decided to teleport away from Lucina and ended up right in front of Pit. She was finally tired enough to not only make a mistake like that but to be caught off guard as well. Bingo!

Pit wasted no time gripping his Lady’s arm. He threw her backward, internally telling himself, ‘Sorry,’ for treating her so roughly. He turned around and watched as she fell down into the blast zone inch by inch. Coming up behind him was a battle-ready Lucina, sprinting to his position. He knew exactly what they needed to do so he didn’t turn back around to look at her, nor did he expect her to stop running at any point. He just gripped the hilts of his swords tighter and waited for her to get right next to him. 

This was signaled by her shouting the final words of the fight.

“Together, Pit!”

Both yelled out and took a leap of faith. They were directly over Palutena, which is exactly what they wanted. The Goddess opened her eyes to two angry fighters. Her eyes filled with fear, but in the end, there was nothing she could do. Yelling once more, the two gripped their respective swords and swiped them down as hard as they could.

They hit Palutena right in the chest, giving her no room to try and recover as her body flew violently into the empty air below. Before they could follow her themselves, Pit wrapped his arms around Lucina’s waist and used his own recovery. It was close, but they both ended up tumbling back onto the platform.

Rolling a couple of feet, Lucina ended up being pinned downed by the angel. Each of them was breathing heavily, yet when they finally looked at each other’s eyes, the only thing they could do was smile and laugh. Holy crap, they did it! They actually did it together!

The familiar **CONGRATULATIONS!** screamed out over them as their visions slowly filled with the same blinding light as before. Time to get sent back out to the real world. When Lucina opened her eyes once again, she saw that Pit was no longer over her. Huh, must’ve been teleported somewhere else in this area. She sat up. 

This action immediately made her dizzy. She used her hands to rub her eyes, groaning slightly and slowly getting rid of nausea that tried filling her body. Then, a voice coming from the area toward her back made it simultaneously worse and better.

“Lucina! Honey, are you okay?!”

Blinking out of her thoughts, she turned her body to look behind her. She was still a little sore, so she couldn’t stand just yet. Her sights landed on her father and mother. They were practically sprinting at her. When they reached her, they kneeled down in front of her. Chrom placed his hands on her shoulders. Robin stared with motherly intensity.

Lucina looked them both in the eyes. She let out a wet chuckle, nodding her head slowly. Chrom took no time to pull her into his arms. He was both rough and gentle at the same time. Crawling a little closer, Robin draped herself over Lucina’s right side. Lucina just closed her eyes and took it all in.

Robin began, “When we got sent back to this place and neither you nor Pit were here, we-”

“Assumed the worst. Thank Gods those fears were unfounded,” Chrom finished for his wife. Leaning out of their embrace, Chrom kept his hands on her shoulders while she fondly looked back and forth between the two. They looked at her with the same fondness. She slowly closed her eyes again, but this time, rapidly opened them in a panic when she remembered another person she should be concerned about.

She broke out of their grasp and quickly stood up. She tripped a little bit, but with their hands on her back, she was able to do it. Running forward a few feet while her parents stayed where they were, her vision stayed on a couple of figures she had been emotionally and physically invested in for the past couple of, well, days at this point.

She watched as none other than Pit, Dark Pit, and Palutena woke up groggily. They all were slightly out of it before they all made the same realization of, ‘wait, where is everyone?!?’ They looked around anywhere they could to find anyone they knew. First, Pit found Dark Pit, and they both relaxed slightly at the sight of one another. Then, Pit looked to his left and let out a gasp of pure shock.

Palutena was staring at him with nothing but concern and fear for his well being.

She also was looking at him with her beautiful _greenish-blue_ eyes.

The two stared at one another in total silence. Both had equal amounts of terror and sympathy on their faces due to seeing each other after all of, well, _this._ Lucina could no longer see him in her line of sight, but she was pretty sure Dark Pit had a similar expression. Finally breaking the quiet was Pit, who chucked his swords to the side and shouted, “Lady!”

He ran at her. Holding nothing back, he leaped into her waiting arms. 

He squeezed her midsection tightly. Burying his face in the spot in between her shoulder and chest, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders gently. She was nervous about what had just occurred; what she might have done to _her_ angel. She quickly assessed that Pit was only minorly hurt, and thus tightened her hold. A grin of relief formed on her face, all the while Pit was getting out all of his emotions in her clothes.

After a few more seconds, Palutena looked up from the boy in her arms. Her eyes landed on the other, darker one. Dark Pit was watching closely with a look that seemed to be apathetic at most. Palutena knew better, “Come over here already.” The Goddess lifted one of her arms off of Pit’s back and held it out to Dark Pit.

Dark Pit blinked at her before tossing his weapons like Pit did and speed walked over to Palutena. He didn’t sprint, _obviously._ He doesn’t care _that_ much. At least, that’s what he wants everyone to think. The angel eventually made it over to the Goddess, kneeled down on the ground and leaned into her hold next to Pit.

Wrapping her arm around the new body in her arms, she let out a quiet sigh. “I’m glad to see you two okay. I’m sorry my powers weren’t enough to save you. It must have been awful what you two have been through to get here.”

Dark Pit let out a wet laugh. Oh, was the infamous stoic angel crying? Along with his brother, Pit leaned out of her arms just a little bit to look her in the eyes, “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” The group of three all looked around at each other once more, each with varying levels of tears on their faces before leaning back into one another and hugging each other tighter than before.

Lucina watched on, nearly crying tears of joy at the sight. It finally happened: Pit got his last family member back, and she couldn’t be any more happy or proud of him. Then, she felt an arm drape around her shoulders on her right while another body came up on her left and stood close enough for their shoulders to be touching.

Her parents had come up next to her. Her father was the one who placed his arm around her. Her mother was only standing next to her, but the way their bodies touched made her think that her mother would get even closer if it were physically possible. They didn’t have their eyes on her. Their lines of sight were on the family of non-mortals, watching with the same amount of emotion that Lucina did.

Smiling, Lucina looked back at Pit’s family with the same expression as her parents: pure fondness. Not just for Pit and his family, but for hers as well. They were all back together, finally. It was a sight to behold, one she never wanted to forget or let happen ever again.

Then, a giant shadow appeared on the ground between the two groups, interrupting all of their sweet and tender moments. Looking at it closer, Lucina’s worst fears were confirmed.

Flying above them was a Master Hand, and it didn’t want to wait for them to be done. It launched an attack, causing everyone to split off and stand alone. The angels were luckily able to grab their swords again since they jumped in the direction they each threw them. Each fighter stared the hand down with glares. All it did was laugh evilly and twirl its fingers, waiting for their attacks.

Despite being apart from one another, each fighter felt as if they were one.

The fight had begun.

They charged.

\---

They were all pretty winded. Even Palutena was tired, which Lucina is pretty sure that says something.

This Master Hand didn’t explode or dissipate into nothing when they all beat it. This time, it actually regained consciousness and stared them down. Then, catching them all off guard, it flew away, leaving all of them to watch it literally create a crack in the sky.

After that, it flew to a little bit to the right of the new hole it created and waited. After watching it for a few minutes, concluding that it was no longer a threat, the now group of six fighters started walking closer to see if they could get a better idea of why. If Lucina saw that Pit stood closer to Palutena more often than not, then she never mentioned it. She did chuckle a little bit every once in a while, however. Pit would not stop talking her ear off, _at all._ Not that Lucina blamed him, though. He deserved to get everything out.

However, she also wouldn’t blame Dark Pit if he decided to use those weapons he suspiciously gripped tighter partway through their walk to get closer to the Master Hand.

Halfway through their trek, they ran into Ike and Corrin with the former on the ground and the latter standing with his hand on the former’s shoulders. Briefly panicking, Lucina and her family started running towards them to see what was wrong. They immediately stopped, however, when they saw why. In Ike’s arms was none other than Roy, one of the last few fighters they needed to find. 

Lucina, Chrom, and Robin all continued to run, but this time the speed was purely so they could get closer faster. When they got up the other three, the family noticed that they all had tears on their faces. None of them mentioned it. Instead, they commented on nonchalant things. Corrin even made a joke about the weather, which got a couple of snickers and chuckles from everyone.

Far away, the angels and goddess watched. They, too, started talking amongst themselves over random things. After a few minutes, they deemed it had been enough time and walked over to the group of sword wielders. When they got up to them, it was at the same time another group were walking to all of them as well. Leading that new group was Marth, who seemed rather tired and worn down. 

However, when his eyes landed on Roy, all of it washed away. Sprinting to his people, he didn’t stop until he nearly tripped over them all. The other sword users watched as Marth bent over his knees and breathed heavily. Waiting in silence, they all watched as the original hero stood up straight and calmly commented, “Man, took you long enough. You just had to be at the very end of this fight, didn’t you?”

Even Pit and his family laughed at that. 

Following the reunion, a Crazy Hand finally appeared up in the sky near the hole. Everyone watched as the new Hand made the crack even bigger. Finishing off whatever they were planning, Master Hand flew directly into the crack with Crazy Hand following soon after. At this point, all the fighters (yes, _all_ of them, thank God) were gathered back up in a semi-decent sized grouping to watch what was happening. It was even weirder what happened next.

They were being fed images of sorts. Like a movie was being played in front of them, but it wasn’t being projected onto anything physical. The images were first Master and Crazy Hand flying around crazily, but then they saw blue and red figures below them. It didn’t take long for all the fighters to realize that those figures were _themselves._ Copies created by those fake Gods no doubt. But what really made them tilt their heads was that the two Hands were _fighting_ those copies.

Ducking, weaving, grabbing, shooting lasers and shooting missiles all at their false selves. Not only that, they were doing an amazing job at it! One by one the fake fighters exploded into bright glitter and dust. Like flies being swatted with overpowered fly swatters.

It just didn’t make sense, though: why?

“It’s… getting rid of them. For us.” Zelda stated calmly. No one said anything to that. Yes, they could all feel that the hands were doing it for them, but still! What had they done to deserve these other-worldly beings’ help?

“Hey, Pittoo! Look! Mr. Crazy just took down your copy!”

“Don’t point that out! That version may be evil but it’s still _me!_ I don’t like watching myself die, thank you very much!”

Lucina stopped watching the fight for a moment to look over at the two loud angels. She just smiled. Pit was enthusiastically pointing at all the fighters he noticed in the group of fakes while Dark Pit tried playfully telling him off. She’s happy to see that they would never change, even after all of something as crazy as this.

She then felt a wave of power come up behind her, “I suppose I should thank you, Lucina, for everything you’ve done for Pit.”

Lucina swiftly turned around and made eye contact with Palutena. Lucina was also somewhat blushing, “W-what? Me? If anything, I should be thanking you! Pit helped me out way more than vice versa, and I can’t help but assume that your teachings made him that way. So, thank you, Your Lady, for everything.” Lucina finished her statement off with a bow.

Palutena watched as the frantic women tried to justify herself for no reason whatsoever. Honestly, mortals could be so fickle at times. With a chuckle and a roll of her eyes, she placed one of her hands on Lucina’s shoulder to make the swordswoman look up. Lucina did just that, shocked by how she was met with nothing but a grateful smile.

“Well, I’m flattered you think that way,” Palutena began, “but with that same regard, I know my soldier more than anyone else, and believe me when I say that you helped him out just as much as he helped you.” Palutena kept her gaze and demeanor serious, but still had that overall motherly feel to it.

Lucina stammered a little, trying to find words that could explain to the Goddess how she, while thoughtful, was still wrong. Shaking her head along with her eye-roll this time, Palutena just put a finger on Lucina’s lips to shush her. Then, the Goddess moved her line of sight to a place behind Lucina. The blue-haired woman could only turn back around to see what Palutena was looking at now.

It was Pit, again. Laughing and smiling… and somehow giving Pittoo a noogie without dying in a matter of seconds. It was then when everything hit Lucina. All the pain from the past few days (or was it weeks?) of this mess, the sadness and despair of not finding everyone (not finding the people _she_ wanted), the pure utter terror and panic she felt laying in bed at night for what was to come.

But she also remembered Pit’s dumb jokes and tricks (that fell flat more often than not). She remembered sparring with him just as much as she sat with him on the couch in the moments they had time to rest. She remembered how they snuck into each other’s rooms to fall asleep with each other’s stories. All their tears and laughter and battles and victories… they were side by side. They were each two sides of the same coin. When one side couldn’t be shiny, the other was there to step up and make it look like they both were.

Because two completely different people somehow managed to find solace in a desolate world by just being themselves and supporting each other that way.

Lucina felt her chest get warm and her eyes get wet, but none of it showed. At least, not to the untrained eye, and Palutena was everything but untrained.

“Well, I need to go see my two idiots.” Palutena said while walking past a lost-in-thought Lucina, “I’m assuming you want to speak to your parents as well. Hopefully, we can all fight together again, that was fun.” With a playful wink, Palutena finally turned completely around and walked over to the two bickering angels.

Lucina also turned back to look at her parents. They were talking with Marth and Corrin. Lucina couldn’t hear them, but they were most likely conversing about the next plan for when the hands were done with their fight. Taking a deep breath, Lucina finally turned around one last time and started watching the fight again.

They were almost done, just finishing up the copies of all the Big Names from the game. Lucina could feel the wind blowing through her hair. Was she entirely convinced that she was no longer a complete failure? Well, no, some doubts still lingered in the back of her mind, but the conversation she had with Palutena was certainly enough to ward away those doubts for the time being.

Besides, Palutena was an all-seeing Goddess. Lucina knew better than to argue with one of those.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is easily the longest chapter in this thing and i hope to god it paid off for everyone reading this
> 
> btw, happy (late) 4th of july from a fellow american! there are _many_ things in this chapter that blatantly do not line up with how the game played out (things mainly in palutenas fight) that i am aware of so you do not need to tell me. i felt this chap needed to be big and i could not do that by sticking to how the game worked! hope you enjoyed this emotional rollercoaster as much as i did!
> 
> let me know of any typos that interrupt your reading! you may give criticism as long as youre respectful about it!
> 
> If you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	8. To Slay a God (ft. The Lightning Chariot)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Fight
> 
> It's always the hardest part
> 
> (For more than one reason)

The part that everyone has both simultaneously dreaded and looked forward to is upon them.

The final fight.

Everyone is tired. Everyone is exhausted. However, if there’s anything that overpowers those feelings, it would be their need to finally _go home._

After the Hands were done, they both flew off and went to do… whatever it is they do. Probably get as far away from here as possible. Nobody blamed them for that. What they needed to worry about were the two giant balls in the sky and how to finally kill them. 

Their first problem was how they needed to fight them both at the same time.

It was going to be hard, but they all supposed that it wasn’t the _worst_ part of the fight that was going to occur. Luigi and Mario just simply broke the cast into a 50-50 split so one half could face Galeem and the other could face Dharkon. 

The next thing on their list to cross off: teach everyone how to fight these Gods.

Not everyone faced off against them when they were fought for the first time, so not everyone knew what to expect. Again, this seemed relatively easy on paper. Mario talked to the troops facing Galeem and Luigi explained how to fight Dharkon to everyone going up against it specifically. 

The final and most difficult problem, however, was that they needed to figure out how to keep the Gods _down_ when they finished them off. Clearly, what they did last time wasn’t enough.

No one knew how to though. If literally just _killing_ them wasn’t enough, then what in the world could possibly be? Well, whatever it was, they would need to figure it out on the go. Right in the middle of their discussion on potential theories on what to do, Fox shouted: “Watch out!” Then, everybody leaped apart to dodge what looked like a sword of feathers and a red spike attached to a black, veiny vine. The two things appeared to be attacking each other, somewhat oblivious to all the fighters they nearly stabbed.

Even if they didn’t mean it, Galeem and Dharkon were not going to wait for them to figure it out, so they needed to think while doing. Lucina, Pit, and their respective families were put with the group that would face Dharkon. They occasionally needed to dodge some of Galeem’s attacks, after all, the Gods’ main goals were to kill the other one, and thus the smashers got caught in the middle, but other than that, it was a rather simple fight once they got used to it.

That’s what Lucina thought at the beginning.

Of course, nothing ever goes right for them, however. Lucina probably should’ve gone in with that knowledge from the start.

Now they’re here, and they all regret it.

\---

Lucina leaped off the platform and grabbed the ledge to dodge the incoming barrage of needles. Once they were done being fired, she climbed back up and looked around. Everyone was fighting and swinging and shooting and kicking to their heart's content. 

Feet sliding against the ground due to the force of Galeem’s attack being blocked, Marth shouted out to everyone, “They’re down to about half health! Be sure to stay extra focused from here on out!” Then, he was back to fighting.

Lots of people verbally responded either through actual words or some kind of guttural sound. Lucina, however, was one of the few that took in his words but didn’t actually say anything in response. She was too busy being focused on the stream that Dharkon sent out. Specifically, the one that slowed you down significantly. 

Pit was caught in the middle of it and was about to be absolutely slammed. Timing it just right, Lucina was able to push Pit out of the way of the attack so she wouldn’t get caught in that time stream or get hit instead of Pit. They both landed on the ground, feeling the haircut that Dharkon gave them from _just_ missing his attack.

The angel gasped, but then realized what happened, “Thanks, Lucina! Man, I-”

Lucina interrupted him by pointing to her right, “Go help my mother and father! I saw them getting cornered a little bit ago,” Lucina answered Pit’s nonexistent question. Pit didn’t need to be told twice. He went to where she pointed. Soon after, she heard a grunt of pain behind her. Turning around, she watched Dark Pit nearly lose his footing.

Lucina focused on him for only one moment, “Do you need assistance?!”

Dark Pit wiped his chin, sword still in hand, “I’m fine! Good! It’s just- ugh! There’s no end to this!”

Lucina would laugh if the situation weren’t so dire. She looked back to her part of the fight just in time to see one of those orbs with a firey-X on it appear in front of her. Getting ready to dodge, she looked over to her family out of the corner of her eye to check on them and to make sure Pit was also doing okay.

She almost didn’t see it.

She finished up not getting fried by the attack from Dharkon by ducking under one laser then immediately jumping over another. Landing afterward, she looked up to make sure, that _yes,_ her family was in danger. Pit and her father were fighting side by side- like she hoped they would be- each of them watching each other’s backs. That is, in the metaphorical sense.

Because quite literally behind them was one of those flying attacks where Dharkon becomes one vine dragging along his center eye. Everyone was prepared for it to appear, but it seems the dark God is still able to outsmart them, after all, that attack was heading straight for Pit and Chrom. Even if they noticed right then and there, they still wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

There was only one thing going through Lucina’s head: she’s not going to fail to save anyone else anymore.

Sprinting as hard as she could, she leaped, shouting “Move!” at the two oblivious fighters. Not expecting it, both Chrom and Pit were tossed to the side by the swordswoman. Also, due to how hard she actual tackled them, their faces were looking at the ground in recoil, thus they weren’t able to see when the spine entered the side of her abdomen.

When they landed with an “oof”, shook off the shock and looked up to see what happened, they were left speechless and with wide eyes. Lucina wasn’t faring any better, in fact, she was worse due to the fact that there was a _giant black vine_ stabbing through her entire body.

“Lucina!” Chrom could only find his words when the vine slithered out of his daughter’s body and shot off to go back to the big black mass it originally was. Running to get to her, Pit managed to fire off an arrow that hit the eye directly in its dumb, stupid center.

Putting away his bow, he ran the rest of the way over towards where Lucina lay. She was currently being held by Chrom. Pit got next to them and kneeled down onto the ground. He was unsure of what to say, so he kept it generic, “H-hey, you’re going to be okay! Al-alright?”

Chrom was still in disbelief, “Lucina… what he said, you’re going to be okay, just- hang on!”

Despite everything, all Lucina could do was blissfully smile, “Would you look at that… I saved you.”

Then, to top it all off, not only did her eyes slowly close on them, right as they fully went shut, her body started to sparkle and glitter. Before they knew it, Chrom and Pit got a front row seat to watch Lucina’s body explode into even more sparkles and even more glitter. Right as it happened, Robin had come up behind her husband and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her book was wide open and clenched in her other hand in what was most likely a healing spell. She saw right as Lucina went down, but due to some of Galeem’s haywire attacks making her preoccupied, she was only able to make it to Chrom’s side right then.

At the prospect of being too late, Robin breathed heavily a few times. Once clarity hit her, she practically snarled in rage and looked back at Dharkon. Within the blink of an eye, she leaped back into battle; adrenaline refueling her body. During all of this, Chrom couldn’t help but mindlessly clench the air as if he could magically grab her back into existence.

Pit just sat there in shock, wings drooping in utter hopelessness. No… there was no way this was happening. It couldn’t be, Pit couldn’t possibly handle the thought of Lucina being _dead-_

Interrupting that thought train was the sound of feet walking towards them. They both looked up in time to watch as a familiar tunic fill their vision, as well as hear a familiar metallic staff stab the ground in what they safely assumed was _anger._

Standing in front of the two men was Palutena. She was absolutely furious, glaring to the point where Pit thought it would create permanent wrinkles on her face. It was shocking to the angel; her anger is usually conveyed through silent apathy...

Palutena’s rage was clear on her face, and it _scared_ Pit.

Palutena spoke, “Get up, gentlemen, this thing needs to be taught a lesson.”

It was here when rage finally hit both Chrom and Pit themselves. The weight of the situation finally dawned on them, and they were _angry._ Getting up, they stood alongside the Goddess, each gaining their own glares that could strike fear into the hearts of many. They have yet to see Dark Pit but considering his shouts of anger alongside Robin’s, they could safely assume he knew what happened.

The remaining fighters stared down Dharkon. They all took their own deep breaths and charged.

It was difficult, but in the end, they were the ones that were coming out on top of the fight. That’s not what worried Pit, though. What he was worried about was that they still didn’t know how to fully kill off these fakers. They were going through all of this trouble, all of this pain, and in the end, it might not even be worth it!-

“Hey! Guess who’s back and is annoyed you left her behind, stupid face?!”

_... What-_

Flying in front of Pit’s face was a bright, rainbow out-lined orb. It took Pit way longer to realize _wait a minute,_ wasn’t Viridi here at some point?

She _is,_ she is here, and she’s very pissed at him. Pit suddenly feared for his life. He was currently facing down two Gods that managed to wipe out the entire cast of fighters, yet he cowered at Viridi, who couldn’t even hurt him in the state she was in, “H-hey, Viridi, how’s it, uh, hanging? I, well-”

“Save it, Pitface!” Viridi shouted with such conviction, Pit missed the extremely hidden concern in her voice, “We got two fake Gods to destroy before they leech over into other worlds and harm the life there!”

Pit blinked a couple of times trying to register what she was saying, “I’m sorry, what-”

Viridi sighed, “You can’t use your Final Smash here, I get that, but the one you currently have now you technically stole from me in the first place!” Pit scratched the back of his head anxiously while Viridi continued, “Considering that fact, and with a little help, I might be able to give it to you anyway to use in this fight!”

Pit froze, before excitedly going, “Wait, really? How?!”

Pit had to dodge an attack from Dharkon, but Viridi stayed right next to him, “I buckled down and asked for some help! Specifically, the ‘magical’ variety!”

Before Pit could ask what she meant, a high-pitched voice came from near Chrom and Robin.

“Yoo-hoo! How’s the game of Smash going brother?!”

Chrom slashed away an attack, then immediately snapped his head up just in time to see a similar glowing ball fly in front of it, “Wha- _Lissa?!_ What are you doing here?!”

The ball of light giggled, “Well, turns out, certain characters were able to make it in by just a little bit! And thank Gods for that! I’m gonna save all of your butts!”

Robin shot an Elthunder out right as she heard what Lissa was saying, “How exactly are you going to do that?”

Lissa just giggled again and flew away. Both Chrom and Robin watched as she ended up near Pit and another ball of light. They also saw Palutena and Dark Pit watching the scene as well. The lights swirled and twirled, then moved to circle around Pit a whole bunch. After what seemed like hours, the two lights were absorbed by Pit. This in return caused him to glow with a wide variety of colors.

Palutena knew exactly what was happening. She started speaking right as Dark Pit flew away to start what he knew she was planning, “Quickly! Get both Galeem and Dharkon down to their weakest states! Make them just the orbs! We can finish this right here and now if we do!”

They weren’t exactly sure what was going to happen, but Palutena was deadly serious in her statements. Wasting no time, every fighter fought and fought and fought, and finally brought both Galeem and Dharkon down at the same time. Their centers fell right next to each other.

Perfect.

Pit took a deep breath, **“Lightning Chariot!”**

Everyone was caught off guard as, all of a sudden, a literal flying chariot came flying in and picked Pit up, taking the angel far away. It was silent with everyone choking on nothing but their own exhaustion and anxiety. Palutena was just staring at the two Gods with nothing else but discontent; same with Dark Pit. Chrom and Robin were just watching with bated breath.

Meanwhile, Pit aimed right between the two orbs of power.

‘This… this is for everything you two have caused!’

Then, in what felt like slow-motion, Pit came screaming back on the chariot that took him away, hitting both Gods right where it hurt. Right as he relanded, chariot nowhere in sight, the two Gods screeched and hollered in pain. Light shot out everywhere. Feathers crumbled and black vines exploded into dust.

Their large bodies then fell into the ocean and showed no signs of ever getting up again.

Every fighter was dead silent, waiting for the eventuality that was the Gods getting back up again. When they showed no signs of doing so, the first ones to cheer were Ness and Lucas. One by one, everyone joined in on the cheering. Hugs happened, tears were shed, and sighs of relief filled just about everyone there.

Everyone, except for a couple of family members and friends.

Pit watched as everyone rejoiced at the war being over. He might have cheered too, but he was too busy being focused on Chrom and Robin, who were understandably silent after everything. Walking up behind Pit was Palutena, who placed a hand on his shoulder and got him to look her in the eyes. She managed a comforting smile, which he tried returning, but hers fell off her face when she saw how pain filled his grin truly ended up being.

Pit was happy…

… but he also was devastated. 

What were they going to do now?

\---

She was incredibly sore, but she also felt rather relaxed and comfortable.

So that begs the question: where is she and what happened?

Well, more like two questions, but in her defense, she was kind of out of it-

“You’re awake! Holy-”

“Lucina! Thank the lords above-”

She was all of a sudden squished between two bodies. Those same two bodies were trying to squeeze her lungs to the point of fatal compression. It was here that Lucina remembered: oh, right, she died. Shakily picking her arms up, she placed them on her parents’ backs. She wasn’t sure if the shaking afterward was still her or her parents crying.

Probably both.

It felt like years, but they all eventually broke out of their hug. They all just continued to look around at one another, not able to believe that _all of them_ were _here._ Finally, getting a little annoyed at the silence, Lucina broke it.

Her voice was a little more stable than she was expecting, “H-how did I…”

“Come back?” Robin saw her daughter wouldn’t be able to finish and did so for her, “Well…”

Chrom inhaled sharply, “Do you remember that Master Hand we fought before the final battle?”

Lucina took a moment to register her father’s words before tilting her head and raising her eyebrow in confusion. Seeing this, Robin and Chrom looked at one another, then back at Lucina, before telling her word for word on what occurred to “bring her back”.

_The battle was over…_

_Then why did it feel like a loss?_

_Chrom was staring at the ground, barely able to hold back all the emotions he was feeling. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, but he knew none of it would help in the physical sense anyway. What finally made him look up was a hand on his shoulder. When he saw who it belonged to, he let some of those emotions flow out of his eyes._

_It was Robin, who was clearly failing to hold back the same amount of emotions he was. If he felt awful, she must have felt absolutely devastated from not being fast enough to heal her daughter before… it happened. Saying no words whatsoever, Robin leaned forward into her husband’s arms and shoved her face into his chest. He responded by wrapping his arms around her slim body and held on tight._

_Every fighter was aware of what happened. Considering Lucina was the only one (and that’s just the cherry on top, isn’t it?), they all knew to give the family space. Chrom didn’t know if he wanted to thank them or stew in anger because they_ knew. _Breaking the silence for only a few seconds was Robin, who spoke a muffled question into the clothes on Chrom’s chest._

_“Just… why? Why her?”_

_Chrom didn’t know the answer to that question. He probably never will, so he just said nothing and held onto her even tighter. At that moment, the world stopped. Chrom thought it did when Lucina disappeared in his arms, but really, the aftermath where he was able to _realize_ just what happened was much, much worse._

_“Hey… Hey, look!”_

_Neither parent wanted too, but considering what everyone was shocked about literally_ crashed into the ground right next to them, _they had no choice but to comply. They gasped. One of the giant Hands was only a few feet away from them. What was even weirder was that it_ started talking to them. __

_**You two… you two helped saved me.** _

_Oh… so is it safe to assume that this was a Master Hand?_

_Robin delicately wiped the tears out of her eyes, “Um, if you’re a Master Hand then yes, I believe we did.”_

_The hand moved around a little bit. Chrom thought it was trying to sit up despite all of its injuries._

_**I saw… what happened…** _

_Both Chrom and Robin widened their eyes, but Robin was the only one to continue speaking, “You did?”_

_Catching them both off guard was the Hand essentially “standing up”. The bottom part of its body was still on the ground, while its fingers were up in the air, surrounding a glowing sphere of light._

_… Wait, what?_

_**My time… is over. But before I pass, I can still return the favor I owe you.** _

_Chrom blinked, still not completely processing what was happening, “You don’t owe us anything-”_

_**I do.** _

_Chrom clicked his mouth shut. Watching the hand move closer, he subconsciously put out his arms to receive the glowing light. Now he was the one holding it in his arms. Robin stood a little closer to him, even putting her hand on his shoulder and standing on her toes to fully examine the “gift” they were given. The Hand leaned back and slowly started to phase out of existence._

_**Think about what you’ve lost. Use my essence to bring it back. I hope… that this is enough… to show our gratitude… for what you’ve done...** _

_The Hand completely disappeared once and for all, leaving Chrom to just swallow his own spit as if he were swallowing a rock, “Uh… you’re welcome?”_

_Meanwhile, Robin was pondering what it was saying, “Chrom… I think… I think we can bring her back with this.”_

_Now he was gaining clarity of the situation, “What? Seriously?”_

_Robin excitedly nodded her head, “‘Think about what you’ve lost. Use my essence to bring it back.’ I know it’s a long shot, but-”_

_“It’s the only one we’ve got. Okay, so we just think about her hard enough she’ll come back?” Chrom raised an eyebrow toward Robin while she just rapidly shook her head. It was stupid, but they were willing to try stupid options. Hugging the light between them as hard as possible, they thought about everything involving Lucina, from the happy to the sad._

_… It wasn’t working._ Nothing _was happening, and if this wouldn’t work, then-_

_A brash voice interrupted from the side._

_“This is so cliche…” Silent judgment filled the area for a minute before, “What? I’m not wrong. Besides, I’m still gonna help, aren’t I?”_

_Turning their heads to the side, their eyes both landed on a pair of angels. One had a look of ridiculously hopeful optimism, and the other had a look of annoyed apathy with a hint of desperation. Coming up behind them was Palutena, who had eye bags for days, but still managed to convey that endless support she always had. She started speaking._

_“I’m sorry for listening in, but I can’t help but wonder… what if we all tried?”_

_Both parents raised their eyebrows while Pit explained, “We may not have known her for as long as you have, but we all care for her a lot. Maybe if you had more “energy” it’ll work better?”_

_Chrom and Robin looked at one another before looking back and nodding their heads. It was all they had at this point. They kneeled down on the ground and scooted closer together to give the non-mortals room to surround the light. Wasting no extra time, Pit zipped down onto his own knees and got as close to the light as he could handle. Kneeling on his right next to Robin was Palutena, who laid a hand over his back in support. On his left was Dark Pit, who simply nodded his head once in Chrom’s direction when he eventually kneeled down._

_All of them took one large collective deep breath and closed their eyes. Once again, Chrom and Robin thought about Lucina, but this time, they had three more sources of love to help them out. Since their eyes were closed, they weren’t able to see the light get brighter and brighter. All they knew was that it was getting hotter, and everyone around them was gasping with more and more intensity at whatever was happening._

_Then, the last thing they felt was an unconscious girl in their arms instead of a bright light._

“-and we haven’t left your side since,” Robin finished, leaning forward to take Lucina back into her arms for a second time.

Nodding his head, Chrom continued after grabbing Lucina again along with his wife, “You got lucky, Lucina. For the love of Gods, please, never do that again. Please.” Robin was simply nodding her head on Lucina’s shoulder as Chrom spoke.

Sitting in that position for a little bit, Lucina’s parents finally let up and let her breathe. Leaning back (yet both keeping a hand on one of her shoulders), they watched as Lucina took everything in. Breathing slowly, she could only look back and forth between her mother and father in what they assumed was shock. Not that they blamed her for taking that route, though.

They expected many different reactions after it wore off. Sobbing, silence, heck, even apathy due to all the stress. What they didn’t expect, though, was her letting out a small laugh along with a slow but steady stream of tears out of both eyes. Waiting in silence, they just watched as she wiped away those tracks with the biggest smile she’s ever had during this entire shitfest. 

“I’m sorry. It’s just… it’s finally over. And we’ve all made it to the end. I didn’t think we had it in us.”

She didn’t care that she didn’t know how they won the final battle, _they lived through it anyway._ She couldn’t be any more happy.

The parents blinked in shock. Then, Robin couldn’t help the chuckle that came from her mouth as well. Her daughter had a point. As the happy mother wrapped her arms around her daughter once again, Chrom also let out a chuckle of his own. Shaking his head, he leaned back into the group hug, allowing himself to release the emotions he wanted to back when the fight had just ended.

Sitting smushed between her crying parents, Lucina couldn’t help but feel a strange wave of deja vu. She too had tears on her face, which only made that feeling even stronger.

Then in the midst of their tears, a large crash following the door opening happened. Before they could even blink, an angry voice came after all of it.

“Great job, Pitstain! Way to be discreet!”

The angel picked his face off the floor, “Shut up! I’m not the one who wanted to eavesdrop this time!”

A moment of silence indicated the first person was pondering, “Wait, you’ve listened in on their private conversations _before?!_ ”

Lucina just rolled her eyes as the angels bickered on. Yep, definitely deja vu. After seeing that they weren’t going to resolve it themselves, Robin jumped in and interjected into their argument.

“Boys.”

They both shut up. They slowly turned their heads nervously, expecting to see anger and disapproval, but instead, they were confused at the warm smiles on all three faces they saw.

Reaching her arm out, Robin invited them in, “C’mere. We know you want one.”

With nothing but pure shock coming from the angels for what seemed like forever, the first one to move was Pit, who roughly shoved Dark Pit to the side, “Move it, Pittoo! I call dibs!”

Dark Pit shook his head, “Hey! That’s not fair!” The dark angel soon followed his brother.

With large but gentle leaps, the two winged-beings got onto the bed next to Lucina, each of them on one of her sides. Surrounding the pile of youngins was Chrom and Robin, who both just smiled and rolled their eyes once more. They both put their arms back around Lucina but made sure to include the two small angels in their grips. After a few moments of bliss, Pit started up a light-hearted conversation. Replying to him first was Lucina, followed by Dark Pit, with Chrom joining in last. Robin just watched on and grinned. She had things she wanted to say, but she also knew she’s had a lot more time with this rowdy bunch than her husband, so she was content with waiting.

While none of them saw it, halfway into their group convo, they felt it. A calm but strong force watching over them. They didn’t stop talking because of it, but that’s what Palutena was hoping for when she popped her head into the doorway to see what’s up. She watched for a few more minutes, laughing at all of the interactions she was witnessing. What made her decide to leave was the spectacle that was Dark Pit snapping and smacking Pit hard on the back of his head. 

He made a stupid joke, go figure. While the smack wasn’t anything too harmful, Palutena could definitely tell that her soldier learned to not make that joke when he was around his mirror copy anymore. As the Goddess walked away, she could hear laughter coming from every member of Lucina’s family, including Lucina herself. When she reached one of the resting rooms, her eyes landed on Rosalina, who was sitting on a couch tending to what Palutena is believed to be called “Lumas”.

As sweet as the sight was, Palutena couldn’t stop the sigh that exited her mouth anyway as she walked over to one of the armchairs in the room. She sat down with a thunk, clearly showing the exhaustion she was feeling. Rosalina saw all of this and smiled with sympathy. She was looking at her Lumas when she spoke, “Your children being a little crazy now that everything is over?”

Palutena leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head, “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

The road to recovery was a long and tiring path, but when each laugh is made walking on it, it shortens just a little bit every time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaAAAAAAAAAAA *coughs* this is a little underwhelming to what i originally had in mind, and im sorry if its shortness or its lack of description is disappointing, but in the end, this is what i ended up coming up with! i once again i threw how the game really played out to the wind to create what i hope is satisfying!
> 
> on a more important note: yay! everyone is saved and the gods are finally dead! im kinda aware that the death of Lucina and everything surrounding it was cliche, but im a sucker for that stuff so who cares! all we need now is the epilogue and this fic will finally be done! thanks to everyone who has been here since the beginning! i hope to see yall in the future if youre interested in my other stuff~
> 
> feel free to tell me about typos that interrupt your reading! criticism is okay as long as youre respectful about it
> 
> If you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


	9. Invisible Ties of The War's End (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we're back to fighting each other normally
> 
> Just like like the Game of Smash should be
> 
> (But this time, it feels just a little bit more special)

It was a nice, quiet day: the perfect atmosphere for family members to lovingly beat each other the fuck up.

Lucina was currently standing in the middle of Arena Ferox surveying her surroundings. It was kind of ironic: this is where she first fought her father, and it seems she’ll just keep coming back to do the same thing. Yup, across the way was her mother and father, quietly conversing on battle strategies.

Good. They shouldn’t underestimate her.

It was here that Robin noticed her daughter had shown up, “Where’s your partner, sweetheart? Did the angel get cold feet?” Chrom was snickering at the playful banter.

That, Lucina could not answer. Pit said he needed to take a raincheck, but she had no idea why? Pit was deadly serious when he said he had nothing to do, and he was even more deadset on spending as much time with her while they were here as well. So why did he say he couldn’t participate in this battle?

Well, her parents could probably answer that. They both gasped at something appearing behind her. She wasn’t sure what it was. All she heard was a door opening and closing behind her, which was… odd. How could a door be there?

A familiar motherly voice filled her ears, answering her question, “Hope you don’t mind me joining you, Lucina. Pit was insistent I do this for him, and I supposed that I did owe him a favor.”

That’s right; Palutena’s way of entering the fight was literally making her own door and doorway appear so she could walk onto the stage in blinding glory. If that didn’t scream all-powerful Goddess, then Lucina would never know what really would. 

Ah, that’s why Pit didn’t want to join: he wanted to give Lucina as much power as possible.

The little sneak...

Off in the distance, her parents playfully objected at this revelation. “Wait a minute, that’s not fair!” “You didn’t mention having a literal Goddess on your side!” And many other statements came flooding out of their mouths. They truly weren’t _that_ bothered by it, but they weren’t going to pass up an opportunity to tease their daughter.

Lucina just rolled her eyes and smiled. It was so good that life was back to normal. Then, Lucina saw a familiar glowing light behind her father that shouldn’t be there, “Hey! Spirits aren’t allowed for this fight! Get Aunt Lissa out of here!”

Chrom stopped his tirade and blinked in shock a couple of times before realizing that he was found out, “Well- I mean- fine! But you have to have your partner get rid of hers as well!”

Now Lucina was the one to blink. Looking at Palutena, she did, in fact, see that her father was correct, “Eh- Palutena! Seriously?!”

The Goddess just shrugged and nervously smiled while scratching the back of her head. Man, Lucina was suddenly aware of where Pit got that from now. Palutena sighed and turned around to look at her Spirit, “You heard them, Viridi, time to leave.”

The Nature Goddess grumbled and mumbled before eventually letting up and flying away. Her mother and father must have said something similar to Lissa since she too eventually left. Lucina watched as they went up into the stands to go be by none other than Dark Pit.

It seems the angel was interested in the fight that was about to commence. The dozen or so Spirits that swirled around him were also pretty excited. If you didn’t watch closely as Lissa and Viridi took the resting spots on his shoulders, you might have lost them in the pile of lights that he was in the middle of. Glad to see he was making friends, at least.

But where was Pit? Because if Dark Pit was willing enough to watch, then surely Pit was just as excited, if not way more so. Well, she didn’t have to question for long, since soon after her inner thoughts, she saw the angel’s back come up next to Dark Pit. The dark angel was just rolling his eyes at his brother’s stupidity.

Why his back? Oh, he was dragging someone along with him to watch the fight. That just begs a different question: who? Right, Lucina should stop with these questions to herself, seeing as they get answered right as she asks them. Pit eventually moved out of the way to get behind the person he brought to witness what was about to go down. Lucina could only widen her eyes as she watched none other than Hero-King Marth sit down on the ledge next to Dark Pit.

The two shared a simple nod at one another before looking back toward the stage of fighters. On Marth’s unoccupied side was an excited Pit, who sat down so fast it caused Marth to blink in shock. After Marth regained clarity, Pit started applauding towards the stage and cheering, “Wooo! Go, Lucina!” He threw one of his fists into the air.

Lucina just nervously smiled while Palutena laughed at her misfortune. Pit had a ton of enthusiasm at times. Then again, Lucina guesses that’s how he won her over in the first place. His sweet, albeit over-bearing nature, was both annoying yet comforting. If Pit weren’t himself, she probably would have never made it through what was basically the apocalypse.

She should thank him again at some point

“-cina, are you ready to start?” A voice from behind her spoke gently.

It then hit Lucina that she was in the middle of preparing for a fight, “Oh! Yes, of course,” she looked back at her parents, “Hey! If you even go the slightest bit of easy on me, I’ll never challenge you again!”

Both her parents blinked in shock before readying up by gripping their weapons tighter and assuming a fighting stance. Chrom grinned from ear to ear, “Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetie!”

Lucina saw as her mother nodded enthusiastically to her husband's statement. Since she basically got the okay, Lucina readied up much like her parents. She gripped her sword tighter and prepared to fight as hard as she could. Next to her was Palutena, who stood up straighter and started aiming her staff at Lucina’s parents.

Up in the stands, everyone was excitedly waiting for it to kick off. Pit might’ve been the only one to physically show that off, but everyone knew that the other two audience members were just as ready to watch this go down.

The stadium got quiet.

Both duos somehow managed to grip their weapons even tighter.

The audience was fidgeting in their seats.

The fighters all managed to mischievously smile at one another.

**GO!**

Lucina felt like she was on top of it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again if youve made it this far! this story was a lot of fun :)
> 
> please let me know of any typos that interrupt your reading! criticism is okay as long as youre respectful about it~
> 
> f you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


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